Coming Full Circle

Every seen the way a kitten struts? How she places every paw down in her nimble gallops across the sunset? Or the look on her face as she explores every curve and bend with the most interest?

It's called innocence, and we've lost it somewhere between nursery and kindergarten.

Take a walk and you'll know what I mean.

Back? Didn't take too long, did ya? You must have misunderstood me when I told you to take a walk. The best ones often last days, and in some case, a lifetime. I bet you think we're gonna be heading for a 'spiritual undertaking', where I hold you hostage and jabber on about the philosophy of appreciating simplicity.

Bingo. Now hold on tight, coz I could walk pretty fast when I get excited.

I'll take you to my favorite place to go to - Chinatown. It's the perfect example of how man fucks up everything by doing what he thinks is right; a malignant rite of passage to everything beautiful in this world.

Now, it's no BS, but I used to go down there a lot when I was a kid - you get off Outram Park MRT and walk your ass off all the way down the antiqued streets bustling with people. Most of you would think that Chinatown's an open-air old folks' home, but back in the good old days when people weren't raised to be assholes, it was the place to go.

Back then, it was dying. Now, it's long dissipated into the annels of a forgotten time; remembered only in the memories of the fuddy duddies haunting the remnants of their Chinatown.

Yes, I'm one of them. MOVING ON...

Think about it - there's bound to be some place that's sacred to you, some place you used to beg your parents to take you, some place with more significance than school and work and play. These are the things that make you stop and think, tossing everything else in your head and just slap you hard like how the moon shines from behind the clouds at night.

They've always there, it's just that you're too worked up over nothing most of the time to pay them the respect they deserve.

Ever wondered why you've got so much problems? How they just keep on piling and not allow you to do the things you want?

But hey, they're YOUR problem, so add that to the list.

"Number 34,579,239: too much problems..." Got it.

I had a talk with one of my buddies that day - Haris Jumadi. It was one of those talks when you don't have to think of what to say so that you can sound intelligent; we could be crows gawking at a dead rat for all I care.

But something he said struck me, "...water kills fire, carves stone, and rusts metal...", and when I went beyond thinking that it was just a cheap rip-off from a Kurusawa flick, I found the cheesiest pick-up line known to man.

"Go with the flow, baby."

No. Nooo..ooooo..oo.o....

All of us surrender too easily. Even though we're forced to go downstream doesn't mean we're not free to choose how we want to do it.

I'm not talking about living your life through the simple things we see - that's too difficult for anyone now, not in this doomsday of a society - but rather a suggestion to all you quasi-philosophers out there - think about them once in awhile. They're like old toys, packed up in a corner of the storeroom of your heart, neglected and taking a backseat.

They don't want that, because everytime you check, there will be one less to remember; your conscience digging a grave for the lost fragments of your past.

So do that; reconstruct even the most destroyed things; melt all the shards and forge a new mirror on which to reflect upon; don't go through life wondering if you ever lived. It's all the simple things that matter above the cesspool reality that we all surrender ourselves to some time in our lives.

If all else fails, just find an empty space at night and look up at the moon flowing light through the vaccum sky, with the stars chorusing their silent symphony as the heavy clouds drift slowly to slumber.

It's not all about you. To them, you're insignificant - a dustmite on the bed of life waiting for extermination. They'll always be there for the next freak who bothers to look up and think for a moment.

See it now?