DEALING WITH INSULT....Lord Buddha

Shared by Mok Kin Hong - more relevant than ever, in this fast paced society:

The Buddha explained how to handle insult and maintain compassion.

One day Buddha was walking through a village. A very angry and rude young man came up and began insulting him. "You have no right teaching others," he shouted. "You are as stupid as everyone else. You are nothing but a fake."

Buddha was not upset by these insults. Instead he asked the young man "Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone, and that person does not take it, to whom does the gift belong?"

The man was surprised to be asked such a strange question and answered,  "It would belong to me, because I bought the gift."

The Buddha smiled and said, "That is correct. And it is exactly the same with your anger. If you become angry with me and I do not get insulted, then the anger falls back on you. You are then the only one who becomes unhappy, not me. All you have done is hurt yourself."

"If you want to stop hurting yourself, you must get rid of your anger and become loving instead. When you hate others, you yourself become unhappy. But when you love others, everyone is happy."

Photographs from the old days

Ng Chai Ming just sent over some photographs which I have uploaded to my web-site. If you want to, you can download any or all of the photographs.

The url: St-Josephs-School, Old Photographs

Thanks, Chai Ming

Re-Union on 4th June @ M Suites Hotel, and thereafter . . .

The event that was attended by 38 classmates and 4 teachers was everything that I wanted. Meeting old friends, re-connecting with some whom we tried to 'track' over all these 33 years, and seeing and interacting with our teachers in a different light. Interestingly, the teachers are all more humorous than I remembered.

Peng Tong and son documented the evening on 'film'. The photographs had been uploaded to facebook - "St Joseph's JB - Class of '78", and Thomas Fann's Gallery

The nostalgia was brought back by the cartoons that Xavier drew (can be found in Life in St Joseph's JB - depicted by Xavier Lim, brought to you by Thomas Fann).

It was a shame that there was just not enough time to catch up with everyone. Maybe that is one of the reason that, many who was there wanted a re-union annually although a couple felt that it would be better if it is held every five years. Give us your feedback. If Peng Tong does not mind, I would like him to take over the organisation of the next re-union, as he had in the past organised quite a few. And Kingsley is the ideal person for us to look up to in terms of venue. Maybe he can work hand in hand with Peng Tong to make the next re-union a much more successful one.

What I really wanted us to ponder on is whether or not we can do something meaningful as a group of 'old boys'.

For your information,

- the classes of '71 & '72 jointly set up a charity fund to take care of the welfare of the needy primary school students, and

- the class of '68 is going to carry out a project to improve the condition of the school field

What does the class of '78 want to do?

You can either leave your comment(s) on this blog or send an email to me - ycs.photo@gmail.com

Re-union Photograph - teaser

There are a number of professional photographers who would have taken better photographs. While waiting for them to send them over, posting this for those who could not attend.

I enjoyed the bantering with the teachers and of course, reconnecting with long lost friends. I did not know our teachers have such great sense of humour. Some of the one-liners were really hilarious. We must get them to attend our future gatherings.

When will be the next gathering? Don't know yet. Do give me some input. Venue, I think it is more or less decided - where Kingsley is the boss!!

Do we know who has passed on?

Ungku Harun have a well meaning suggestion - observe a min of silence during the re-union, for those of our classmates who had passed away. Do you know who had?

Dr Selva - heart failure
After Singh (info from Kingsley)
Lim Hong Kin - motor accident (info from Mok Kin Hong)
MOHD Fauzi ??
John Quek Yak Leng (stroke, 2015)