The Sun and The Moon

Some mornings (months) ago, I woke up to the most beautiful sky I've seen yet.

It had hues of pink, one of my favourite colours for skies. Against a bright happy blue backdrop. On that were streaks of orange fluffy jet smokes.

And then there were the colours smudged between those colours which I can't find the word to describe, except 'beautiful'

It reminded me of one of my favourite songs 'Sun and Moon' by Mae. Because it was in winter, the sun was just rising yet the crescent moon was so obviously still in the sky.
And it reminded me that some moments, we can possibly feel we have it all, the sun and the moon, even if for those split seconds where the breathtaking beauty freezes in time, and then passes.

It also reminded me of the beauty of understanding that the world is bigger than yourself. That morning, I did a little errand run, and walking on the paths, the sky seems less magnificent than my 2nd floor window view. I decided that it was because of the different view points I have. When it's on the ground, when it is me as a self focus looking out to the big world, it does seem to lack a bit. But when you rise above all, and not through power but by the understanding of humanity's interconnectedness and there is always something bigger than you, the humility that accompanies a second floor window view leaves one in awe.

I miss the UK skies, these photos serve as a reminder of what good times I had and the skies that have lifted my mood during those down days.

P.S.: These are same skies, just with different filters, and just like our different perspectives, we see different colours. 

Changing Rhythms

We all love the idea of change, even more so if our ideation of change creates an impression that the consequences of change will be as we believe it to happen.
But change is very real, both the joy and its pain. Sometimes the latter is real enough for us to realise that we are really not that all prepared to go through it.
In the light of the recent Parliament dissolution and Malaysia's journey to a better future (I must admit I've not read the manifestos of both main parties), the change is real, very real.

Even more so for the community - the people fringing the fighters and world changers.
I was on the LRT yesterday and I passed by the area of Bangsar South, a rapidly developing area. From my vantage point, the most obvious view were the massive towering cranes in various directions.
It was a gorgeous sight because it shows me the development of my country, that it is moving somewhere, albeit most of us not really knowing where this "somewhere" is.
I wasn't sure what kind of development it was, but a thought crossed my mind "Someone is waiting for their house to be built. Someone might be in anticipation after all these years to finally own a place they can call home, bought with money they made with blood and sweat. Someone might be waiting to start their business, eager to serve the market in which their product will actually benefit."
And when the political scene starts rock and rolling, these development might come to a halt, someone's dream might come to a pause.

I'm not saying don't start rocking, please, we need this rock 'n roll. But we also need to realise it's not so much the journey during the rock and rolling, it's the journey of picking up the pieces of the rock and roll, of living with the deafening sensation to our ears once this loud music ends.
When things are rocky, those not in direct power have minimal control over what is imposed upon them. When fights happen in the building where decisions are made, the wait time for a system that works for the people may take a while to happen.
Healthcare, social welfare. There are people waiting for policies to come true, and their wait is not easy.
And the funny thing is, people who have everything would not like the change, while people who have less than everything hope for the better. We call the former selfish. And perhaps they are.
But think about it. If you have spent 20 years of your life building a business which means so much to you, how willing are you to risk losing that entirely, and with that loss, the loss of a lot of your life built upon this dream.
Can you remember the last time you really worked for something? And then someone tells you that for the better good, you need to lose it? And you actually felt resistant? Yes, your resistance is selfish, and yes, your resistance is very human.
When we judge people about their not wanting to change, we forget to try and empathise how they are perceiving the change. That their fears of a worse outcome is as valid as our hopes for a better outcome.
Lest we start wondering why they are not changing, or chiding them for being selfish, understand that beneath the selfishness roots a strong fear of this kind of pain.
That we are only human, that we can fear, but we are also built to overcome the fear. I'm not validating their selfishness, I'm suggesting that we are all humans seeing from different vantage points. And if we see this selfishness and empathise, perhaps we can all play a better role in helping each other understand that this concert is not for personal benefits regardless of our current status quo, but for the ultimate benefit of this this community we call our society.

So, the pain of change is very real. A wise person once told me that we say we like learning, but we don't actually like learning.
Because learning comes with pain, a lot of pain.
It's easier to fall in love with the idea of change, it's harder to make the relationship work with change.
That does not mean we don't want change. That means that we are ready to make change work, however hard.
At this point, what matters is not actually who wins, but that we pray we have people who will step up to the challenge of moving the change towards the better.
People who will sit through the pain of failure, resistance, expectations broken, hopes tried because they have faith things will be better.
We're not just in for the music, we're in to create a new rhythm of life. And let's all remember our part in sitting through this pain, and always wanting to make things better.

Because it is always the darkest before the dawn.

Disclaimer: This is just a personal reflection and is not intended to propagate any political point of view, neither do I admit to have done the best set of research I can of this country's political scene. Nevertheless, I do welcome other perspectives and conversations. Cheerios!