Suffering

Why is there so much suffering in the world?
Is God not good, or is God no powerful?
Why do the animals have to suffer?
And why are there so many cruelties?

A test, a punishment for sins of old?

I think the best answer to the questions above lies in the next story:

A two year old child was having a wonderful time
A beautiful glistening knife in his hands,
what a superb toy and how much fun.
His father comes in the room and gets a shock.
He runs to the child and takes away the knife.
The child protests and starts to cry.
The child feels treated unfair and cannot understand.
No matter how hard the father tries to explain,
the two year old child will not understand.

Sometimes I think we are a bit like that two year old.
Our human brain so wonderful but yet compared to grandeur
of the universe and the greatness of our God, our mental
powers are like mere spark compared to the light of the sun.
With our limited immature brain power of a human being
we see so much suffering and feel it is not fair.

It has happened to me and I am quite sure to you and to everyone too,
that something bad happened. It felt unfair, why me, why now, why here.
But a week or two later or sometimes years later, we can see
that the bad event, in fact has brought us a blessing that would never
have come our way if that event would not have happened.

A school burned down in India. How can the Master of the Universe be so cruel?
The whole community shouts in disbelief but the teachers sees an opportunity
to collect funds from donations to build a new school that is much better than the old one.

I fractured my vertebra. I was confined to bed for 3 months.
I cursed the event leading to the fracture and wondered why me, why now?
During that period I started writing poems, and developed a passion for poetry.
If that had not happened, a hobby that brings me now so much fulfillment and joy
would have perhaps never materialised

I am sure you can give examples from your life.

Many of the larger things, we cannot understand.
There may be a reason, that we do not see.
A reason we cannot comprehend.

If we can accept that we cannot comprehend everything.
it becomes a bit easier to enjoy the beauty of life
It requires humility, humbleness, yes
But life is elevated to the next level
Life is not easy, but in many place we can find beauty, even in difficult times. :)

I have a small poem, written quite some time ago:
the-story-of-why  (click)

Lightening

On the way back from the hospital,
I saw two bouts of most wonderful lightening:

I wrote a small haiku on it:

Amazing white lines

light'ning in the darkest skies

Frightening beauty.

Hope you enjoy the Haiku.

 

Mother earth

When we see the huge accumulation of stupidity
that is cheered by a large number of Americans
when Trump spews idiotic rethoric
I think many people feel like vomiting.

The latest on energy.
He wants to revive fossil fuel burning in America
He loves market forces, he says, these are beautiful forces.
In the same breath the hypocrite says that he will help his
super rich friends who have invested in coal and fracking
to recuperate their losses.

I hope someone keeps track of all times this nut
contradicts himself.
Within one speech he is contradicting himself flagrantly
Hope people take the effort to compare his speeches.
Hope there are enough Americans who have left a little of sense to see
through this fool who seems only good in rhetoric.

Market forces include the awareness among all people on earth
that we need to save nature and mother earth.
Please people of America
do not let a fool mess with America and the rest of the world...

Holding the baby

When I reflected today on what I have done, I thought my morning had been not too good.
In the afternoon, I went to a meeting. I knew I had to leave the meeting early because parents of patients wanted to see me. That is when it started to get a bit better.

I was talking to the parents of a 5 days old child. The child had major, major problems. Lungs intestines, brain... The baby had been on a ventilator (breathing machine) all his life and had undergone one operation already. The prognosis is not good. After sharing all the bad news the mother looked so sad. The father was sad. I was sad. Three sad people in a room.

I asked for help from above. It occurred to me that the mother had never held the baby. When I asked her if she would want to hold the baby, of course there was a resounding yes. I thought the baby was not stable and it would be best to plan it for tomorrow, but then tomorrow may never come for the baby. We managed to arrange something and with all tubings and monitors the mom had at least some moments of intimate closeness to her baby. The sadness was still there but it seemed to have become a bit more bearable.

She even forced a smile when she thanked us.

I share this experience here.
If things look sad and bad, there are often small things that can be done to make it a bit more bearable. These small things do not take away the pain but the difference they make can confer a certain peace of mind which is the foundation of bliss.

My day had been not too bad after all.

Wild dreams

I think all of us have wild dreams.
Dreams that seem impossible to realise
Too many of us perhaps give up our wild dreams much too soon.

It may be well worth to retrieve our wild dreams from the past.
Blow some life in them
Let them become our passion
and soon see them become reality...

:)    :)   :)    :)

------------------------------------------

 (added:)
Was thinking a bit more about dreams
When I was 12 years old I was dreaming of going to work in Africa
When I was 16 I saw a documentary about a Belgian doctor working in the south of Thailand.
I thought, wow, perhaps that would be still better than Africa.
Now I am working about 30 km from the border of SouthernThailand in Malaysia.
The place where I work has been conducive to allow fulfillment of many of my teenage dreams.
Dreams fulfilled, give rise to new and bigger dreams.
My dreams now are bigger than ever.

I think all of us have to keep on dreaming
Keep dreaming big and big things will happen.

:)    :)    :)     :)

The world is our country

I read recently the following piece by the late William Lloyd Garrison 

(19th century famous champion of the emancipation of black people) 

"We do not acknowledge allegiance to any human government.  We
   recognize but one King and Lawgiver, one Judge and Ruler of
   mankind.  Our country is the world, our countrymen are all
   mankind.  We love the land of our nativity only as we love all
   other lands.  The interests and rights of American citizens are
   not dearer to us than those of the whole human race.  Hence we
   can allow no appeal to patriotism to revenge any national
   insult or injury..."

I enjoyed so much the beauty in this text that i want to share it here with you.

I tend to agree very much that all borders of nations are so artificial and unnatural.

If we believe there is one God, why not believe the whole world is just one land.

The concept may seem hard to swallow at this time but

as any lofty ideal, if it is kept in front of the eyes of 

enough people for long enough it may come about. 

Slavery has been abolished in many parts of the world.

May have seemed impossible few centuries ago

Women have been emancipated 

May have seemed impossible few centuries ago

Hopefully soon we can say:

"The world has become borderless"

"May have seemed impossible ten years ago"   

What now seems impossible may become reality 

if enough champions keep the ideals of a unified world 

very much alive...

and how about enjoying this:

 "He who attacks  another and injures him, kindles in the other

a feeling of hatred, the root of every evil.  To injure another 

because he has injured us, even with the aim of overcoming evil,

is doubling the harm for him and for oneself; it is begetting, or
at least setting free and inciting, that evil spirit which we
should wish to drive out.  Error can never be corrected by error, 

and evil cannot be vanquished by evil."

The one from the heart...

I read a message on facebook about the perfect way to pray.
Lots of instructions.
It made me think of a story by Tolstoy.

I searched for it and found the story by Tolstoy on the net.
It is titled: the three hermits
Here is the link:
http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/2896/

I hope you enjoy the story as much as I do.

The perfect prayer may be the one that comes truly from the heart.

You and me and him and her

You and me and him and her
Each of us may follow another religion or be an atheist
and all of us are yet close friends

You and me and him and her
Each of us may be so different
and yet we work together in harmony

You and me and him and her
Each of us have different opinions
and yet we talk together so much

Let us shun the wicked people
shouting that anyone who differs from them
will burn in hell as infidel

These wicked guys know nothing
nothing about the Over-Soul creating this world
Grace and love and forgiveness they know not.

So stop letting anyone scare you with hell
threats to hell are the tools of the uninspired teacher
threats to hell reflect only arrogance of the preacher

Many of us believe death is nothing final.
And to me, that is likely to be very true

but then what happens after death,
the only thing that's certain:
No preacher, no teacher will have single say.

Teachers and preachers are supposed to  inspire
Gain followers by inspiring others

Teachers and preachers are not supposed
to claim knowledge they do not have
and scare potential followers with hell

The ones who cannot inspire people
use threats instead
but they do not deserve our ear.

Just my honest opinion about the preachers of doom
(feel most free to disagree)

Poems

Give me poems,
Give me more poems,

Give me not the poems of sadness
Not the heart broken ones of egocentric lovers
Not the complaining ones

Give me the poems that inspire
The poems that give us all hope
Hope for a better world

Give me the poems that encourage
encourage us all to to seek truth
to live truth, to love truth, to be truth

Give me the poems that exude love
love and kindness and friendliness
not childishness but child-likeness

Give the poems that touch on the impossible
and use fantastic images to create picture of compassion
sweet feelings boiling in a soft heart

Give the poems full of soul
Give me poems
Give poems
Poems...

Here is one for you:

Huge 

A billion metric tons of friendliness
sit in the heart of everyone on earth
An inexhaustible sea of kindness
Resides in our hearts since birth

Why only milligrams, we use,
a few droplets at a time?
There is really nothing to lose
If we let what's in our heart just shine.

Stinginess with water from a sea?
Stinginess with metric tons from that heart of thee?
Let's set all that friendliness, all that kindness free
Let's shower a bucket full on friend and foe, why shouldn't we?

Aufie Zophy/

YES!

I wrote the small piece below a few years back.
The longer and the more I dream of a world full of kindness,
the more certain I become that a world like this will become a reality soon.
So, yes, yes, yes, a firm YES

A Firm Yes

In a wonderful cartoon, i had the pleasure to read:
A lonely person stood on the corner of the street
He was pulled to one side by a good-hearted soul
He was pulled to another side by a good-hearted soul
Each wanted to invite him for dinner, a good deed

Could it ever be, that there is a lack of lonely people in the world?
Will it ever happen that more people want to invite lonely people
than there are lonely people?

I 'd answer with a firm YES
'cause we are living in a spiritual world
and more spiritual it becomes!

Please click on the author name of 

Aufie Zophy

which is the "nom de plume" I use for my poetry on PoemHunter

if you 'd like to more poems.

not crying

As a specialist for children, I want my students to have the skills to make children cooperative with them while they are doing a physical examination on a child.

There are a few techniques that they should know.

1. Toys
Toys used wisely can be really helpful. I see students give the toy often too early. During history taking there is no need for toys. That is the time for building rapport with the mother and the child. If we give the toys too early to a child, the child will get bored with the toy and throw it on the ground. The mother gets upset because the child throws the toy on the ground and the child may start to cry, something we really do not want. The wise use of toys in a doctor-child encounter is to reserve it for when the child becomes uncooperative and even if the child takes only a few seconds to stop crying while looking at the toy, these seconds will be the time we fully use to get some important findings.

2. Examination on the lap of the mother.
Most things can be done on the lap of the mother, including general examination, auscultation testing of reflexes and many more. A child feels comfortable and somehow protected when he is that close to the mother.

3. Build that rapport with the child.
A giant truth is that if we are friends with the mother, it is likely that we will be friends with the child too. It is very important to involve the child from very early during the history taking. NOT to ask questions to the child, which may scare them but by simply talking to them. When I ask my students how they talk to a 1 year old, the answer is simple: they don't.
And that is a big mistake. Children love to be talked to but only in certain ways. They do not like questions. Even simple ones. They do like to hear the name they are called at home.

They do like to hear praise. At home, gandma and grandpa are giving praise relentlessly to the children. If we manage to talk like them, it really works in our favor. To be able to really talk like them, first we have to feel like them. We have to love the child genuinely. If we manage to do so, it will be easy to find things we like. We voice them out, et voila, we praise them like the grandparents do.
Even at a young age the children will recognize praise as praise even if they do not grasp the full meaning of it.

A second very positive effect of praise to children is that the mother will be instantly your best friend. She will transmit these feelings to her child and the chances that child likes you and cooperates increase exponentially.

The whole thing about praise, is that it has to be genuine. Simple flattery does not work. We have to put ourselves in such a loving mood, that it becomes easy to love certain things about the child. Then voice them out. Perhaps the voicing out of something we like about other persons is something so difficult for all of us.

We don't have the habit of praising. We like to criticize, point out mistakes, and criticize again. If we want to work with children we need to learn how to praise.

From within

Early in the morning
Still dark outside
From somewhere deep within
A spark shines some light

The spark flares to a flame
Shining for my lovely wife
Oh my God, to her I want to be kind

Slowly the light becomes more bright
Enveloping our children in the house
Oh my God, to them I want to be kind

Now the light is gaining more might
Shining on neighbors, on colleagues of mine
Oh, my God, to them I want to be kind

And brighter and mightier gets the light
Starting to envelop the globe so wide
the world so kind

Then, the sun started to rise...

Read more poems from Aufie Zophy at
 poems by Hans (Aufie Zophy)

Outing

Today I went with my son, Johan, and two of his friends to Bukit Keluang.
I think I have written before about the magic of that place,
where there is a stony hill right on the beach with several caves.

We had a walk on the beach, between the rocks, over the rocks,
on the rocks and again in the sand and took some amazing pics.
The boys took numerous selfies.

We rested a while, and before returning we had some Kerupuk, fish crackers,
freshly fried and fish balls with a drink in a road side café.

And it was nice
And it was nice
And it was nice

If your children are with you,
make an outing with them today
If your parents are around
make an outing with them today
If this is impossible,
make an outing with an auntie
If that is impossible,
the old folks home has lots of wonderful aunties
If you cannot do it today,
fix it for tomorrow or at the very latest next weekend
Please not later than next weekend
Fix the date today.

You will enjoy it
The other person will enjoy it
and the world will be different,
PERMANENTLY

A bit of love

A bit of love in my heart
moves and increases the beat

That bit of love sits there

and makes me roving

a rainbow on a dark cloud

a firefly in a dark, dark night

a spot of red on black and white pic

a moment of silence in the middle of a thunderbolt

a small piece of silk woven into a large cloth of burlap 

A bit of love sitting 

inside my heart

part of me wants to keep it

to guard it with all my might

part of me wants to give it away,

give away for free to anyone I see 

'cause that part knows that whatever we give
is a pure gain to the soul

'cause that part knows
about that wonderful piece of magic:
by giving away a bit of that bit of love,
the bit will grow so fast, so furious
that it won't be a bit anymore

Remembering

Remembering what is most important in life can help your day be a lot brighter.
Today I went on an outing my son to a nearby exotic coral island.
The weather was bright and the day started well.

Along the day, there tend to be always some small imperfections.
I almost fell in the temptation to let these small things spoil our outing.
Luckily I remembered what was most important to me today:
to have a nice outing with my son and enjoy each other's company maximally.
I managed to swallow or spit out whatever what not so perfect
and taste the full enjoyment of an outing with my son.

Life can be beautiful
It is easy to let it be spoiled by small things
With a bit of wisdom, we can maintain the beauty of it all.

Enjoy the beauty, while it is around.