gruelling exercises

"Had I known but yesterday what I know today

 I'd have taken out your two gray eyes

 And put in eyes of clay;

 And had I known but yesterday you'd be no more my own 

 I'd have taken out your heart of flesh

 And put in one of stone. "

-Tam Lin

i've been re-reading The Dogs of Babel, which is where i get the above excerpt and i discovered a whole lot of new things that i missed when i first read it, including the anguish Paul (the protagonist) must have felt when he found out what he had known all along; that his wife killed himself.  

the first time you read the above saying, you might find it cruel and heartless, but then, after a while, you'll find it as words of kindness as it is intended to ease your pain whenever you lose someone. that was what Lexy wanted, to ease the hurt of her suicide from Paul's life. yes, it's very sad indeed and also very disturbing because the death of loved ones are never easy.

i'm writing that piece to pay tribute to the families of the victims involved in the Rawang crash and the accident that happened today. what makes it sadder is that in today's crash, which involved an express bus and a Kancil, 3 people(1 adult and 2 children) died. one of the children was only 3 while the other was 6 years old. may they find a place in Heaven.

i also want to extend my condolences to the victims of Italy's earthquake and the people who were murdered more and more frequently every day. nowadays, the price of a human life is cheaper than the price of a beer can, it seems. i even dismissed them as unimportant when i read about murder cases on newspapers. yes, i know, it's sickening, but believe me, everyone does it too. we have become so accustomed at hearing the words "murder" and "kill" that sometimes we just ignore them. i know i did.

that's the reality of the world we live in. as the gloomy economy is still here , i'm afraid that we're going to see the worst of human nature in the near future.