She had faith in him....

If it was a dream, he sure would like to have wake up from it. There was an excruciating pain in his left leg. As Mac walked out from the convenient shop after getting a loaf of bread, a car had smashed right into him and clipped him against a lorry parked in front of the convenient shop. The car had clipped his left leg. He couldn't feel anything else except the pain in his left leg, it was the longest 15 minutes of his life as he waited for an ambulance and the fire brigade to untangle the wreckage to free his left leg.

By the time he was freed from the wreckage, it was at least another hour's worth of pain. Mac had lost a lot of blood and he had to undergo a 4 hour surgery and a lot of blood transfusion to keep him alive. Having lost both parents to a car accident, there was no one else around him except for his girlfriend, Alice.

When he finally regained consciousness, he found Alice beside him and he noticed there wasn't any feeling in his left leg knee down. That's when reality sank in and he realised his left leg was amputated knee down. He went crazy not knowing how to react. He flipped and started throwing whatever he could get his hands on while Alice tried to calm him down. The doctor had to rush in to inject Mac with a depressant to knock him out for a while.

Alice didn't know what to do to help Mac. That one leg he lost, was more important to him than anything else because he was a professional athlete who runs marathons. It was his livelihood.

As the days went by, Mac eventually calmed down but it was still evident that he could not accept the fact that he had lost the very means of making a living. Depression was seeping in and Alice soon found herself fighting an uphill battle trying to keep Mac from giving up on living. Day by day Alice visited Mac after work, sometimes bringing work to the hospital and worked while she kept Mac company. She was afraid Mac might do something crazy if he was left alone too long.

When it was finally time to start his physiotherapy, Alice fought hard to encourage him to go for the physiotherapy sessions. She stayed by him making sure he underwent the therapy sessions fully. The therapist had to make sure Mac got used to the prosthetic leg. She could tell in the look in his eyes Mac detested the idea of having to put on a prosthetic leg but all she could do was to encourage him and keep him from giving up on himself. Every night she cried from the exhaustion and fatigue of being there for Mac but she refused to give up.

Eventually Mac got used to his new leg and started walking around quite normally but the whole process took Mac close to a year. It was one year of agonizing pain from therapies upon therapies. One year of heartaches. One year of self pity and one long year being a pain for Alice.

That day when he finally got home, as he entered the front door, Mac dropped all his bags and turned to Alice, tears in his eyes, he hugged her tightly. As he hugged her, he kept on saying, "I am so sorry Alice, so sorry................". Mac knew he had Alice to thank for. She had always been at his side throughout the whole ordeal and never gave up on him. She had faith in him, more than a beach got sand. It was that faith in him, that helped him recover for the shock of losing a leg and it was that same faith in him that kept Alice by his side...........

Enjoy nature respectfully and responsibly!

Having been brought up in the city and living in the city since I was born, the sight of nature has always been fascinating and interesting to me. Nature for a guy like me so used to the city would probably as close as the sight between heaven and earth. Over the holiday weekend, I found it a perfect time to do some hiking in the outskirts of the city, where land is still very untouched and safe from any development. New to hiking, I followed a seasoned hiker friend to check out some of what nature has to offer for a city-slicker like myself.

It was a hike up Gunung Tuk Wan. It was about a 3-hour hike up and down. In fact it continues after you reach the peak Broga Hill. The pictures above were taken at the peak of Broga Hill. A couple of quick shots, admiring the beauty of the scenery before we continued to head on to the peak of Gunung Tuk Wan. It was tiring but very interesting - breathing in fresh air, seeing lushes amount of greens around me, the sound of insects creaking, birds with wingspan so big that you could hear the wind in their flaps. It's an amazing treat to my senses.

Take a look for yourself, the beauty nature had allowed me to enjoy when I reached the peak of Gunung Tuk Wan:

It may not be beauty at its finest, but it sure is miles better than what the city has to offer me. Compared to the hazy air I get stuffed with and all the pollution in the city, this was as close as heaven could get for me.

The best part of it all, is being able to hike up there and enjoy all of this with a friend who shares the enjoyment of it. Surrounded by the beauty of nature plus sharing the beauty with another appreciative person, heaven just got better for me!

Despited enjoying everything mother nature had, one thing saddened me when I was hiking. The beauty of nature is slowly deteriorating with the increasing number of visitors up Broga Hill. At the peak of Broga Hill, as you look out into the horizon, you will see a wonderful scenery but onces you look around you, you will immediately see the epitome of human irresponsibility. I saw rubbish thrown all over the peak, plastic bags, remnants of unfinished food and beverages - garbage left there without any consideration of what sort of damage it could do to nature.

I felt sad for mother nature and a deep rage inside me seeing how much disrespect is given to nature. It was the distinct human trait of taking but not giving anything back. Mother nature gave us her beauty to enjoy and admire, yet we take it for granted and destroy her beauty by unnecessarily leaving garbage around the peak of Broga.

We have to understand that before you and I know it, someday nature may not be around anymore for us to enjoy with the burgeoning population growth globally and the more industrialised we become. We have to start loving and respecting nature. If not now, when?

determination in her eyes

It was a hot Sunday afternoon, at least for the better first two hours when I was rock climbing. I reckon it was probably hitting close to 33 degrees. It was seriously hot! And there I was harness strapped around my thighs and waist with my two bare hands holding on to the rope. I was belaying a first-time rock climber. Belaying is a pretty interesting task during a rock climbing session especially when the life of the climber literally rests in your hands.

This first-timer was different this time around. She didn't make it the first try, she tried the second time, third time and by the fifth time she decided to come down to take a break before going at it one more time. So as she was panting, whilst trying to recover her strength before going at the climb route again, I gave a few pointers as to how to place her feet and hands to get a proper foothold to push herself up. What I saw, was something quite different from other people I notice.

She kept insisting on trying the route up. I may not have rock climbed for long but I have climbed long enough to know a tired climber when I see one. I could at least tell her fingers were simply too tired and incapable of grappling the stones. Her legs were probably tiring out seeing that she could no longer grip the rocks with her toes well. Before she could pass the first level of rocks she slipped and fell. That went on for another 45 minutes or so but she kept on pushing on.

As she got tired, she took more frequent breaks in between but kept on trying until she was completely exhausted. So tired that the following day she found it difficult to grip stuff with her fingers.

But throughout the climb, I saw one very important point in her - determination. There was pure determination in her eyes. It was the sort of look she that told me she didn't want to lose to a bunch of static rocks and that she was challenging herself. Determination is something hard to come by as many have rather comfortable upbringing in this day and time when parents don't wish for their kids to suffer like they did. Sadly, the protective approach has eroded the current generation from standing on their own two feet and going all out to reach out for what is worth it.

It was the determination in her eyes that has give me a push to work out more to better my rock climbing and everything else that I do.........

P.S. this post is way overdue when it was intended to be posted on the 18th of August 2010... but here goes.....