This is one of those days. I tossed and turned in bed from 3am to 5.45am and decided I’m just not about getting to sleep. Heck… is something troubling me? Why am I so awake?

Decided that the next best thing to do will be to go online. And there it is, news of a new toy in town for kids. A poll dancing doll. Interesting. Why didn’t I think of that? Kudos to the manufacturer for coming up with such a brilliant idea. They never stop at anything for the love of money.

Create a toy with a pole, blinking lights, disco ball, make it rotates and put a doll on it and sell it to the kids. Or rather, entice the kids to urge their parents to invest in it. How ingenious is that. I’m pretty sure parents will go ga ga over the possibility that their precious child will maybe someday be a pole dancer huh.

After a 3 months hiatus, I’m now marching back with a vengeance. The past couple of months had seen my thoughts fluttering like the paths of a carefree butterfly, erratic and definitely conflicting, contradicting and confuse.

In life, we win some…. and we lose some. And sometimes our vision gets so clouded by a web of illusion.  We never know for sure do we? What seems to matter to us most at the present moment and into the distant future, is really that important and what we think it is.  Only time can tell.

Come on, haven’t it occur to you? Looking back at some of your life challenges 10 years ago, what seems to be so devastatingly disastrous then has molded you into the person you are today,….much better off.

Most of us have been the cookie thief at some point of our life. We perceive a string of incidents in our very limited inner world to be the bone-crushing truths and reality. Of what is right and the gospel truth. But are we? Only time can tell….

Oh, in case you’re wondering what was the “cookie thief” persona I’m referring to, it’s a poem by Valerie Cox that we can all relate to. I’d like to share it here…

A woman was waiting at an airport one night
With several long hours before her flight
She hunted for a book in the airport shop
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop
She was engrossed in her book but happened to see
That the man beside her as bold as could be
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between
Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene
She munched cookies and watched the clock
As this gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by
Thinking “If I wasn’t so nice I’d blacken his eye”
With each cookie she took he took one too
And when only one was left she wondered what he’d do
With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh
He took the last cookie and broke it in half
He offered her half as he ate the other
She snatched it from him and thought “Oh brother
This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude
Why he didn’t even show any gratitude”
She had never known when she had been so galled
And sighed with relief when her flight was called
She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate
Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate
She boarded the plane and sank in her seat
Then sought her book which was almost complete
As she reached in her baggage she gasped with surprise
There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes
“If mine are here” she moaned with despair
“Then the others were his and he tried to share”
“Too late to apologize she realized with grief”
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief

Well, a warrior’s got to do what a warrior do. Instead of the average man’s beliefs of  “do - have - be”,
(1) to do what we have to do first,
(2) so as to have what we want to have and
(3) finally in order to be the person we want to be.

We have to ….

Be like a warrior,
Do like a warrior,
And eventually Have what we truly deserve as a warrior.

The way I see it,

A warrior should always be who you really are and say what you feel, those who mind don’t matter and those who matter won’t mind.

I read this heartwarming report somewhere and thought I should share it with you.

In a contest to find out the interpretation of “ what love is “. children between the ages of 4 to 8 were asked that question.

And these were the enlightening answers they gave… sometimes, we should just learn from this kids.

‘When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.’

Rebecca - age 8

‘When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.’

Billy - age 4

‘Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.’

Karl - age 5

‘Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.’

Chrissy - age 6

‘Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.’

Terri - age 4
‘Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.’

Danny - age 7

‘Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss’

Emily - age 8

‘Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.’

Bobby - age 7 ( enlightening…. from a 7 year old )

‘If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,’

Nikka - age 6 ( what an angel )

‘Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.’

Noelle - age 7

‘Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.’

Tommy - age 6

‘During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.

He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.’

Cindy - age 8

‘My mommy loves me more than anybody
You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.’

Clare - age 6

‘Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.’

Elaine-age 5

‘Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.’

Chris - age 7

‘Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day..’

Mary Ann - age 4

‘I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.’

Lauren - age 4

‘When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.’

Karen - age 7

‘You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it But if you mean it, you should say it a lot.. People forget.’

Jessica - age 8

And the final one

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,

‘Nothing, I just helped him cry’

And to those seeking for love, Saint Raphael is the patron saint you should be sending your prayers to, not Saint Valentine.

St Valentine has been wrongly associated with finding love. He is the patron saint for those who have already found their soulmates.

The story goes that St Valentine continues to marry christian couple in defiance of the law in those days, and was jailed to be executed for his act.

While in jail, he was said to have healed the sight of a daughter of one of the guards. And on the day of his execution, he wrote a short note to the lady he had healed, the content of which were nothing close to romantic, and sign off with ” from your Valentine ” .

Thus start the practice of sending notes of appreciation on 14th of February, St Valentine’s day.