spent my sat reading mitch albom's tuesdays with morrie and the five people you meet in heaven. i've always heard how good both books are, and yesterday, both books got to me in a special and personal way. Especially tuesdays with morrie, whcih made me cry buckets.

reading these books brings me away from life's despair and sorrow, and let me see life in the most simple yet meaningful way. i mean, the world is filled with hatred, anger, wars, death, dicrimination, sicknesses the list goes on. everything the devil takes delight in. and everything that destroy a human life, literally or not. man can choose to wither away or can make a choice to make his days count. the two books talk about life's values and the importance of little things, both tangible and intangible, such as regrets, love, family. i belive albom's books have impacted people in different degrees and various ways. for me, it reminds me to be real to myself and to the world, and most imprortantly, to treat everybody with love because "Love each other or die."

i've always believe in the power of love, not just the love between lovers, but the love one would give to another human being. to me, its the most fundamental and purest act of human nature, of which we yearn to give and receive. yet, as people grow and witness everyday events, love distorts and gives way to other emotions, because we no longer believe and trust. because we're scared. and simply because we no longer have the time to love, as we fanatically pursue our own desires.

although i'm turning 18, i havent gone through much in life. but i'm sure when i graduate and spread my wings to fly, life will take on a whole new chapter. i belive once in awhile i will lose track of where i'm heading, or what am i living for, stuff like that. but the content of the two books i've read and God Himself, would be there to probe me back :)

"Take any emotion-love for a woman, grief for a loved one, or what i'm going through, fear and pain from a deadly illness. If you hold back on the emotions-if you don't allow yourself to go all the way throught them-you can never get to being detached, you're too busy being afraid.You're afraid of pain, you're afraid of the grief. You're afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails.

But by throwing yourself into these emotions, by allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your head even, you experience them fully and completely. You know what pain is. You know what love is. You know what grief is. And only then can you say, 'All right. I have experienced that emotion. I recognize that emotion. Now i need to detach from that emotion for a moment." -Tuesdays with Morrie

"PARENTS RARELY LET go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. The moments that used to define them-a mother's approval, a father's nod-are covered by moments of their own accomplishments. It is not until much later, as the skin sags and the heart weakens, that children understand; their stories, and all their accomplishmetns, sit atop the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, beneath the waters of their lives."-The Five People You Meet In Heaven

and thanks chai, for the lemonade drink! :D