Me: Ayah, ayah cakap, you're good at reading one's character. What do you see in me?
Ayah: Kau ni, macam ayah la kot..
Me: In what wise?
Ayah: Wise?
there was a moment of silence, and then the both of just cracked up and laugh hahaha :P
If you ask me to name one person i admire in this life, it would most definitely be my dad, and yes, he's the one in the picture lol. Setting aside the fact that he is my father and that he loves me a whole lot (I love you, too Ayah :) ), he himself has a lot to be admired about. A kampung boy from Bahau who ended up roaming the whole wide world. And when roaming the world, i don't just mean Paris, New York, London, Abu Dhabi and all those tag named cities others usually dream of going. Add in there Mauritius, Peru, Zimbabwe, Macedonia, Africa, Bosnia, Sham Al Sheikh, Mexico, Moscow, Berlin, Athens, and a whole bunch of other places.
So we had the father- daughter talk yesterday, which lasted till 1 in the morning lol, and apart from that short conversation i showed you above, he also shared me his experiences. His Bosnia story is my favourite. He went there, Sarajevo to be exact, 2 weeks after it was under siege by the serbs. When they landed at the airport, the terminal was no longer there, walls of ruins were full of bullet holes, and pieces of debris were just, everywhere. They were greeted by their 'shining chariot', which was a tractor yang angkat pasir untuk buat rumah tuh, to transport them from the landing area to the gate of the airport, along with the luggage. No need of stamping passports, immigration check, no, nothing like that.
So there was this one fine day, where my dad decided to walk back to his hotel after he covered a conference. He was actually advised to not do so, for there were still a lot of mines that has yet to be taken out of the ground by the french army. But knowing my dad, he went for the walk anyway. He passed by a soccer field, where a bunch of teens were playing soccer. As my dad sat on the steps, drinking his mineral water, the kids looked at him, and more of his mineral water lol. They went up to him and asked for a sip, and my dad decided to give the whole team the whole bottle. One of them sat next beside my dad, and they chatted away.
That place was a valley. And the Serbs' way of attacking the place, was from a higher ground, and they would just shoot down at them. So what these people did to avoid getting shot was, they would pile up sand bags as a barrier, and would live on the other side of it. This boy said, at night, you can hear bullets breaking thru the sand bags, like the sound when you poke a needle into a float.. huhu..
One day, his mom asked his younger brother to fetch water down this alley, at the bottom of this hill from their house. And his brother went like the mother told, with a pail in one of his hands. A few hours later, the lil brother didn't return, and when the boy who was chatting with my dad searched for his lil brother, he looked down the alley, and saw his lil brother on the ground, with an abandoned pail at the tips of his fingers. Not moving. Dead.
The saddest part was not that, but the few hours after, of strenuous effort from the lil' boys family, trying to retrieve the body with a long stick, from the alley.
And here we are, whining for things we can live perfectly without, taking our comfort for granted. With leaders debating over the wrong things, putting effort into petty matters, fighting for visions not even half of the nation understands, or wants.
Looking back at history, our glory moments would always be when difficulty swarms us. Wars, failures, bad grades, detention lol. That's the good side of reaching the bottom of the sea, coz when that hits you, there's no other way but to go up. But getting the urge to go up is the hard part. Knowing us humans, no drive, no go. No need, no effort. Bila dah tak boleh bernafas, baru terkial2 nak naik.. hahaha biasa la kan? So putting yourself in difficulty is a good thing in a way? I guess. But kalau ye pon la kan, please let it be for the right reasons, reasons worth while. Jangan laa sebab benda2 kecik, yang ntah pape2, we lose our homes, our dignity.. I wudnt wanna be losing even my cat over some idiots who misused their authority.. oh wow, macamane boleh merapu sampai sini? lol
ANYWHO, so that's my dad's Bosnia story. Gaining experiences like these would be my personal treasures to seek in this world, and i envy my dad for just that. My dad feels the same way, too. He can't imagine a life of going thru documents from 9 to 9 everyday, 6 days per week, even though it'll earn you big bucks. I guess I am like my father. In what wise? hmMmMmMm :) hahahahahah! :P
No comments:
Post a Comment