knowing you did something about it

There are always those unmistakable moments when you take a pause in your life and you'd say, "I should have done it!". I think it's common for most of us because of mistakes we make and sometimes, the indecision that tends to hinder our decision making process.

Let me tell you about a real experience I had with a close friend of mine. For anonymity sake, let's call him Eric.

Couple of years back, Eric was battling out a business law suit that nearly shattered his business and his family. I knew Eric through my lawyer friend who was handling his case. I used to help out at a small law firm to earn a couple of bucks to add a bit more to my miserable bank account balance. And that's how I knew about Eric and his unfortunate law suit.

It was a tough 6 to 9 months for Eric and us, battling out the case. It was a tough case and and uphill one at that. The cases were against us, Eric dropped the ball at the early stages of the trial and due to the legal system here, the law was simply against him from almost all angles. To make matters worse, his was also battling out the prospects of a divorce with his wife who didn't think he stood a chance in surviving the law suit. Not very nice of his wife, if you ask me.

Anyway, we spent many weekends working the case out at the small legal firm premise, running through cases and cases and stacks of cases plus discussion with Eric to make sure we got the affidavit as concised as and as accurate as possible.

After all the tiring weekends and long hours of discussion, the case was heard by the judges, plenty of hours of debating facts and the law. Eventually, Eric won the case as the plaintiff could not prove that Eric indeed committed an act of criminal breach of trust. It was great! I mean Eric finally went back to business as usual, kept his marriage going, the firm won the case and I got my pocket money.

Through it all, I actually asked Eric what would he have done had he lost the case?

"Honestly, when we finally go to the hearing stages of my case, I wasn't certain what to make of it. I mean we came this far in preparing for the case and I'd be lying if I said I didn't hope to win the case. I guess, I already money set aside for the kids and my wife. If she insisted on a divorce, I doubt I could stop it from happening. Not everyone can live we being associated to a bankrupt with a CBT label over his forehead. But I don't think it's all about winning the case but deep down, I merely need to know that no matter the outcome, I can look myself in the mirror and firmly tell myself I knew I did something about it.

Having gone through this moment in my life, I can now honestly say that not matter what you decide to do, you just have to make a decision move on with the decision and never look back. Because some day, some where, you are bound to make decision that could change your life forever. And when that day comes, you want to be in a position know you did something about it irrespective of the outcome."

Enlightenment Part 2 of 3: Buddhism in Yogyakarta

The highlight of the Yogyakarta was the awe-infusing marvel of the Borobudur temple located about 2.5 hours drive from Yogyakarta city. I have been to Angkor Wat in Cambodia so I have had experience with ancient Buddhist relics and amazing Buddhist temples inscribed with pin hair detailed carvings.

From the trip's itinerary point of you, I visisted Borobudur first but I decided to talk about Hinduism first to talk about Yogyakarta's religious transition from the sequence of which religion influenced Yogyakarta first from a historical perspective. Hence, Hinduism and now Buddhism.

The plan was to wake up at 3.30am in the morning so that we would be there by 4am to witness the scene of a beautiful rising sun from the pinnacle of the Borobudur. Unfortunately, the weather was less forgiving given that it rained from the day before right up to 3.30am when we woke up for the sunrise. So, we did not get to witness any beautiful sunrise and there definitely was no "egg yolk" in the horizon from atop the Borobudur. It was slippery, cold and cloudy throughout the morning.

Despite the rain plus all the other inconvenience the rain brought along, Borobudur was still worth the visit and the walk up the slippery steps. On that note, the rain was a real pain for me when it came to trying to set up my camera and the tripod to capture a good shot.

The Borobudur was designed as such that you have to walk all levels of it from the bottom to the top and it signified the path to enlightenment. If I recall correctly, you are supposed to walk in a clockwise manner all the way to the top. Each level signified a specific level of the enlightenment process and each level had different carvings on the walls to tell a story. It ranges from Buddha's path to enlightenment to the different folk stories of how sin would ultimately be returned in internal suffering in your second life.


The rain threatened to ruin the trip but the luckily it was all but drizzles throughout the visit and I still got some good picturesque shots..........