Book review 20 – The Last Song

I have just come to realize that I have read 12 novels written by Nicholas Sparks.  So, he has become one of my favourite authors.  I don’t fancy romances but most of his novels are love stories.  Yet his love stories are not mere romances.  They are about the relationship between people, such as lovers, siblings, children and parents, etc.  And there are always messages conveyed in the stories.

I have just finished The Last Song.  It is in fact not mainly about the romance between Ronnie and Will, the two main characters, but the relationship between Ronnie and her father, and her relationship with other people and everything around her.  A summer vacation spent with her father has changed Ronnie so much and even let her stay to take care of her terminally ill father.  So, she has amended her relationship with her father, and then her mother.  She has changed her perspectives on life.  She has forgiven herself.

She has realized that there are so many things in life that turned out not as she has expected, and that she has been wrong about so many things.  Life has been so much more complicated.

Yes, as time goes by, I have also found that I cannot be certain of many things.  Career, people around me, etc.  Life is so complicated.  I can only live and embrace today.

Lions for Lambs

I watched an old movie over the weekend.  In this movie, “Lions for Lambs”, there are 3 interlocking stories.

1.     A professor teaching political science trying to persuade a student with potential to re-engage in his studies and do something meaningful in his life

2.     A journalist, who does not think she should report on a “propaganda” story told by the senator on the latest new war strategy of the US, is under the pressure of the TV company to report on this story

3.     Two former students of the professor are trapped at war at Afghanistan, fighting for their mission and for their lives

Should the student lead an ordinary and comfortable life instead of doing something in his life to change society even though he may only contribute a little, which may not even help?  Should the 57-year-old journalist report on a propaganda story according to what the senator wants her to promote just because she is too old to find another job and that she needs the salary to take care of her family?  The two students are risking their lives because they think that going to war means doing something for their country to fight against enemies.  Is this worth doing?

There is a lion and a lamb inside each of us.  When there is a chance for us to take a stand, will your lion or lamb win?

Related website: Lions for Lambs

Love

在這金光閃閃璀璨年代，人只想今天可否更好?

傾出了大半生的鉛華，仍是沒法滿足心中所想。

沒法知曉心中所欠甚麼，何以到處見憂傷眼光?

紛擾世代壓迫處處湧，名利令到價值變，愛太過假裝！

耶穌說：人若賺得了世界，卻是賠上了性命又有甚麼益？

從前是你犧性，十架中釋放罪人，人生裡有著你重現曙光。

誰知道，誰明白心裡缺欠？你是惟有盼望是永生應許，

原來所過一生，是有驚喜價值；

神的愛正待你歸轉，待你呼應。

主愛無價

Rainbow

一生中能夠見到多少次彩虹呢? 直到今日，我想我見過少於十次。每次見到彩虹都很興奮，因為不可能製造機會見到，再加上信主後知道彩虹是神和人立約，於是每次見到彩虹都特別開心。前兩天在回家途中，突然感覺到有微雨，心想，明明天氣報告說今天天晴，怎會下雨呢?　於是抬頭望一下天空，看見天真的很晴，卻又真的是下著很微的雨，再看，見到在天空很高的地方有一道彩虹。很美，令我很開心。每次見到彩虹，都是神跟我在某方面的暗示，告訴我祂給我的應許，我相信今次都不例外。

論做人﹣生活不艱難

我今天用了大約五小時看完了楊牧谷的「論做人﹣生活不艱難」。這本書只有140頁，而且很有趣，所以很快便看完。楊牧谷的文筆十分幽默，我看書除了漫畫外，甚少會看到笑出來，這本書是其中之一。他能以幽默的手法將一些生活中所見所聞、人生的問題，和男女的關係等表達出來，有深入的分析之餘，令人不會感到硬生生的要接收一些信息。

他談如何過簡化生活、在急流生活中要讓自己有心靈的休息時間、如何管理金錢等等。其中有一篇他講到做人要除下多餘的面具：

對人誠實的意思就是敢於以誠待人，肯相信人，又不害怕把你的感情向人顯露，這是你敢於對己誠實，願意相信自己，又尊重自己感情的結果。.....受到別人傷害嗎？你若可以流淚就流淚.....為創傷而流淚是人之所以是人的特徵。

用了數十元，花了數小時，學了一點點這位牧者的智慧，很值得。

Mobile Phone

我最近想到要換手提電話，因為我知道我要開始多認識smart phone，否則我不會懂得寫跟這個題目有關的文章。其實前幾個月我才幫一間公司寫了一些跟smart phone有關的文章，不過因為不算太technical，所以總算應付得到。

我不是追潮流和科技的人，我每次都是「被逼」才去嘗試新的科技。好像facebook，我一直堅持不開戶口，但因為前一間公司要有facebook，而我要幫手update content，於是我也要開一個戶口，所以我算是比其他人遲了。而手提電話，十多年來，我只是換了三個電話，都是因為壞了才換。雖然今次電話仍未壞，我便去買新電話，不過我這部舊電話似乎知道我想換它，所以在我買了新電話後，它便真的壞了。唉，當我買新電話時，我沒有想過舊電話會在這個情況下退役。

不過雖然買了新電話，但因為新舊合約的問題，所以仍未能用。現在只能用禤的一部舊電話。

Reading

Today is a public holiday but I stayed home most of the day reading. I have not spent much time reading books in the past weeks. “Much time” means at least an hour or so every day. Reading for some 15 minutes cannot make me feel satisfied. So I read and read and read today. Reading is so enjoyable to me, and it is indeed part of my life. Without reading, I think I will die. I am that kind of people who need to have quiet moments from time to time, think and read in order that I can recharge energy. I will feel my strength coming back after reading.

Today, I have finished a book which I have almost completed reading before I took up the current contract job. And I have read a few chapters of two other books. Will read more tonight.

Book Review 18 - Have a Little Faith

I like the books written by Mitch Albom. He has published 4 books only but I have read all of them. His books are not didactic. They are stories, some are real, to let you think, to inspire you and to move you to tears.

In “Have a Little Faith”, the story begins with Mitch Albom being asked by an 82-year-old rabbi to deliver his eulogy. To prepare for this, Albom had to meet the rabbi regularly. Meeting the “man of faith”, Albom has in fact taken a journey to explore issues we all face every day – life purpose, death, marriage, forgiveness, happiness, friendship, cynicism, faith and so on.

Faith is not in a box. In our lives, god is always there. It is just that if we are sensitive enough to “feel” god is around.

I like a paragraph towards the end of the story:

Have you ever known a man of faith? Did you run the other way? If so, stop running. Maybe sit for a minute. For a glass of ice water. For a plate of corn bread. You may find there is something beautiful to learn, and it doesn’t bite you and it doesn’t weaken you, it only proves a divine spark lies inside each of us, and that spark may one day save the world.