Goals in Life

"If you loved someone, but you could not make the person stay, what would you do?", Coop said in a barely audible whisper.
"I don't know."
"Easy, you've done it before. You leave before you get the chance to see that person walk away."

Rough excerpts from the book "Plain Truth" by Jodi Picoult. It somehow struck me how cruel reality could be to the human. You take it, or you leave it, literally. Face the cold hard fact: when you love someone, the other party would not necessarily love you in return. In fact, the other party might not even give a damn at all. It is very much disturbing to see interpersonal interactions turn into something very much superficial.

Abigail van Buren once said, "The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back." Once I got down to opening my eyes to observe, this quote is in fact very true. It is such an eye opener to be in the background, you observe so many things that you would have missed otherwise.

The orphanage reading session today was great! Or at least I hope so. I wrote a story on softball for their reading material, and it was a passable story I guess? The lesson was carried out pretty smoothly and I felt so much satisfaction after that. Finally I am able to give back to the society, in return for everything it has done for me. In some ways, it is also giving me the experience I require to be able to teach properly during my June holidays when I get a trip back to Indonesia. Ambitions, I guess for now they're the only things I'm fighting for.

Another quote from "Plain Truth", "There's this little acronym I was taught in grade school - it's J-O-Y. It's supposed to make Plain children remember the Jesus is first, Others come next, and You are the last." True enough. I need that.

Sometimes you are unable to face your past, busying yourself over the present and worrying for the future seems to play a dominant role in humans today; few would retrospect. Avoiding the past would not be the way to go, for it would come back to haunt you. It always does.

As a person, think. What is your ultimate goal in life?

Money? Friends? Acceptance?

Happiness? Satisfaction?

Christ?