A teacher next door #1

Just in case you haven't heard the news; I'm currently doing my teaching practice and it has been four weeks!


So, that day, it was NILAM (which the teacher has to bring the students to the library for a period for reading session) and as usual, some of the students are not really reading -- and this one girl came to me and say;

Student: Teacher, tengok tu Veron (a Chinese) baca buku Islam. He knows a lot about Islam. Dia pandai gila.. Saya tak pandai.

Me: Kenapa pula awak tak pandai?

Student: Saya tak ada A pun masa UPSR haritu..

Me: How many A(s) should not define your intelligence, my dear. (There you go, I give the animals'-exam-panjat-pokok-if-you-ever-heard-once analogy)

Student: Tapi... Still tak pandai. Semua orang nak tengok A. Mak saya pun nak A.


Sigh sigh sigh and sigh. These kids have been doctrined by the adults... So sad. What a sad truth. I believe in multiple intelligence. They have their own strength, not everyone should be a doctor, should be an engineer or so. Let them develop their very own potential in their very own field chosen by themselves.

But on another note, I ever taught a class on topic 'Ambition' and I'm so glad to know that the students nowadays have various kind of ambitions; they wanted to be a lawyer, open a boutique, chef, pilot, architect, news anchor, actress and so. Tak macam kitorang dulu, manjang nak jadi doktor atau engineer je hewhew.

Just a random post :)

Today, I brought mama to HSA for her monthly check-up. While on the road back, we chit-chatted about this one old man (we overheard the doctor in front us explaining to him about his disease) and we conclude that: semua penyakit hanyalah asbab untuk kita kembali bertemu Pencipta kita sahajaaaaaa :)) Sememangnya, as we grew old, kita punya system dalam badan semua dah mula melemah, dah mula ek-ok-ek-ok(couldnt function properly) sikit.


Itulah fitrah manusia.. Allah ciptakan kita bermula dari fasa kita lemah, tak mampu berbuat apa-apa (baby dan kanak kanak), kepada fasa kuat bertenaga (remaja dan waktu muda) kepada fasa asal kita; lemah, tak mampu berbuat apa-apa(tua).


Its just that, balik tu, I reaaaaally reflect myself. Kematian itu hadir pada bila-bila masa tanpa any signals. Tak kisahla di fasa mana pun kita.. Kan. Then, I reminisce those good old times masa kecik-kecik. Rinddddduuuu sangat sangat waktu kecik-kecik dulu.


Rindu masa sekolah dekat SKBU 2, sekolah yg paling best! Pergi sekolah naik satu kereta, kereta mak cik Jah- 5 orang ramai-ramai. Duduk taman Munsyi pun paling the best. Sebab masa tu rapat sgt dengan jiran. Selalu datang rumah, main cikgu2, main masak2, main dekat taman... Pastu zaman budak kecik lah yang terpaling rapat dengan semua adik beradik. Sekarang semua org membawa haluan sendiri.. Rapat pun, dah tak rapat mcm dulu like we can sleep together sambil tgk hindustan!! Sobs

Paling rindu juga zaman rumah arwah Atokyah dekat Kg Tunku... Maybe sebab rumah tu besar. Kitorang main badminton, main police entry, berebut buaian, panjat pokok Rambutan.... Ahh :') Suka sangat time barbeque! Main music chair, main poisonous box, tidur dalam khemah, ada sketsa pastu penat main, ambik ayam bbq tu, makan.. takyah kena kipas2. problem free betul :')


Lepastu, duduk atas bumbung dekat bilik kak Aina, main dkt ruang kecik abg Adzim, tidur ramai2 kat ruang tamu bentang toto, tengok Mary Kate&Ashley, main monopoly, saidina, scrabbles.. Kadang2 tidur Subang Jaya dekat rumah Athirah.. Hm rindunyaaa!!!


Rindu dekat arwah Atokyah and arwah maktok.. Arwah atokyah walaupun garang tapi selaaaaaalu buat lawak, usik cucu2 dia. Arwah maktok pula selalu back-up kalau kena marah dengan mama atau abah hehehe. Arwah maktok penuh dengan kelembutan dan kasih sayang... I reaally2 miisss her! Dulu masa arwah maktok meninggal, we all semua tak faham apa-apa. tetamu datang siap main sambut2 tetamu dekat pagar. Omg inesen us :') Pastu bila tengok arwah maktok diangkat and disembahyang jenazah kan sampai lah ke kubur duk meraung menangis tak henti semua... I remembered all that! I remembered the moment "semua ni bukan main2, maktok mmg dah takde", the moment tengok semua orang solatkan maktok, maktok dimasukkan ke liang lahad... It hurts so much :'(


Haih.. Waktu kecik-kecik memang best kan? Dunia kita adalah bergembira, enjoy the life! Huhu. Sekarang bila dah ada pelbagai tanggungjawab, not that I miss 'problem-free life' tapi... Entahla. Rasa macam nak sesangat pergi balik ke zaman kecik-kecik yg seronok amat sangat.


Tapi I guess semua org suka benda yang bersifat kekal. No one likes something temporary. Just look at ourselves, we hope our beauty is eternal. Haip jgn tipu! SIapa yg tak nak kulit sentiasa muda? Kalau tak nak, jgn jaga muka, takyah pakai pencuci muka! Lol ;p


Maknanya, our hearts long for Jannah, for the hereafter. Sebab sifat kekal tu cuma ada dekat sana. Eternal happiness, to be with our beloved ones forever and problem-free, can only be obtained in Jannah, there. So kita sebenarnya tak nak pun dekat dunia ni.. Dont get it wrong. Huhu. Perasaan tu buat rasa tak sabar nak mati... Tak sabar nak bertemu Allah, melihat wajah Allah. Dunia tersangat melelahkan...

Tapi itulah :) Apakah kamu menyangka kamu akan masuk syurga sedangkan belum sampai kepadamu ujian seperti mereka yg terdahulu.. Ye dok?

Lets live life to the fullest --- by obeying Allah wholeheartedly and... give up everything that displease Him ;) Lets! Infirru!

The lyrics:

كن أنت

لأجاريهم، قلدت ظاهر ما فيهم
فبدوتُ شخصاً آخر، كي أتفاخر

و ظننتُ أنا، أنّي بذلك حُزْت غنى
فوجدتُ أنّي خاسر، فتلك مظاهر

كورَس:

لا لا 
لا نحتاج المال، كي نزداد جمالا، جوهرنا هنا، في القلب تلالا
لا لا 
نرضي الناس بما لا، نرضاه لنا حالا، ذاك جمالنا، يسمو يتعالى
Oh wo oh, oh wo oh..
كن أنت تزدد جمالاً

أتقبّلهم، الناس لست أقلّدهم 
إلا بما يرضيني، كي أرضيني

سأكون أنا، مثلي تماما هذا أنا
فقناعتي تكفيني، ذاك يقيني

(كورَس)

سأكون أنا، من أرضى أنا، لن أسعى لا لرضاهم
وأكون أنا، ما أهوى أنا، مالي وما لرضاهم

سأكون أنا، من أرضى أنا، لن أسعى لا لرضاهم
وأكون أنا، ما أهوى أنا، لن أرضى أنا برضاهم

—–

And here’s the English translations (translated on Youtube):

Be Yourself

In order to keep up with them, I imitated their looks and exterior
So I became someone else – just to boast

And I thought that through that I’d gained a fortune
But I found that I’d lost, for these are mere appearances

Chorus:
No, no,
We don’t need wealth to increase in beauty
Our essence is here, in our hearts it shines
No, no
We will not seek to please others with that which we deem unbefitting for ourselves
That is our beauty, rising and ascending above

Oh wo oh, oh wo oh..
Be yourself and you will increase in beauty

I accept people but I don’t imitate them
Except for what I agree with, to satisfy myself

I will just be myself, just the way I am, this is me
My conviction suffices, this is my certainty

(Chorus)

I’ll be what I please to be
I won’t seek their acceptance
I’ll be whom I love to be
Why would I care about their acceptance

:-)

Re-define the happiness. (Rant on happiness)

I was born and grew up in a surrounding where academic achievement, brands, looks and how much your parent earns monthly are big deals.

Those determine how many friends you made and it reflects how successful you are which also then determine your rank in popularity. Lols, childish much, ya ya ya I know! But hey come on, popularity does matter! Popular means you’re influential and influential means you can tease whoever you want and feels like to and be mean to some people you hate. Muahaha just kidding!

Well, I think what matters a lot back then when we were just a bunch of kids—is friends. Friends mean the world to us! Having a lot of friends is all you ever want. Alhamdulillah I thank Allah that I moved a lot from one school to another school hence in result, I have a looooot of friends, close friends and best friends that I can always count on! Alhamdulillah thumma Alhamdulillah.

Due to that (having a lot of friends) too, I faced various kinds of people. Some of my friend wouldn’t mind who am I and simply accept me for who I am. While some are concern about my academic achievement and endless-ly try to compete (by keep comparing my result with theirs like oh am gee). And there is few who concern about my family(like what my parent are doing, how much money do they make, your siblings’ academic achievement—omg I swear this kind of friend is the most annoying one) while some of them are those who concern about my stuffs. You know.. Like asking what is the brand of your this and that and why chose this fashion instead of that and where will you go for the upcoming school holiday omg leave me alone for heaven’s sake T___T

But then, I accept all my friends for who they are.. We were just immature at that time, oh well, what do you expect from a kid? Hahaha..

Eh all that is only the introduction part. Here comes the gist-- okay have you realized, we were all been defined by others all this while? What I was trying to say here is we let other people determine our happiness, goals and success. Perasan tak?

When the majority wants to be a doctor or engineer, we follow them. We want to be a doctor too. Just to be accepted by majority. The society says those who did not pursue their study are useless, hopeless and have no future. Thus, we all pursue our study simply because to have a degree as to not be labelled as useless and hopeless by society. That explains the existence of such typical dialog -- “kau ni buat malu mak bapak je” Sebab apa? Because we let others determine our happiness and success. See the connection now?

Jadi engineer/doctor tu pandai- who says so? Society. The majority.

SPM 9A tu berjaya- who says so? Society. The majority.

Jadi kaya tu untung sangat- who says so? Society. The majority.

Putih dan kurus tu cantik- who says so? Society. The majority.

Media plays a very important role in doing this. They broadcast only successful people (as defined by them) and keep promoting fairness (so that everyone believes that fair means beauty). 

Little did they know, psychologist found out that there is such thing as multiple intelligence which means every human has been blessed with different talents and everyone has something to offer. They have their very own potential. Not everyone has to be a doctor nor engineer. One who is fair is not necessarily beautiful-- vice versa. We are all beautiful in our own way, and beautiful can’t only be defined by physical beauty per se. We have inner beauty as well and it can’t be seen and judged by most people.

I used to be those people who were trapped in these crazy narrow minded things. I put so much effort to please people. They say TESL is cool, so I took TESL though I’m not into it (well, now I am!). They say thin is beautiful, and I am dying to have a slim body (well I am still not) until I stop pleasing people.  I stop using their indicator of success and happiness and use mine. I have my own definition of happiness and success. I do not have to follow others.

I am sooooo glad that I found Islam, the real Islam. My goal, success, happiness are all as according to the Quran which fit my heart best. I feel stressful no more because I have no one to please but Allah. And to please Allah, is much easier than to please people!

People says fair, slim and tall are beautiful but Allah says outer appearance means nothing. All that matter to Him is taqwa-- the beauty of the inside. Amazingly, that kind of beauty can only be judged by Him alone. How sweet!

People says you are successful if you managed to achieve your dream/ goals, able to travel the world, have a secured career with enough paycheck, get married to your dream man and have successful kids. While Allah says, the only success to Allah is being able to please Him. And for that is the biggest reward- Jannatul firdaus. 

People says the richest among you is the one who has plenty of money. While to Allah, the richest among you is the one whose good deeds saved them from the Hellfire. Whose deeds are all accepted by Allah..

Sadly, I just feel sooo weird when people nowadays are desperate to prove to others how successful and happy they are by uploading pictures on Instagram. Its like, “Hey look Im happy, I ate Mcd” then taking pictures with Mcd’s foods. (Boycott please anyway)

I know and I understand that you just want to share the happiness but you have to remember, you are trying to make ‘what should define happiness’ be mainstream. Ok like for example, when everyone is taking pictures of travelling, and like everyone is suddenly travelled and upload bunch of pictures. You tried so hard to show that travelling is happy and fun! I know it is! But what if there is some people who has few money and has family problem and has no chance to travel, you are making that person feels like they are unhappy.. Everyone has their own way of making themselves happy. Some people are happy as simple as just being with their family. While some need to spend time with friends in order to feel happy.. I don’t know, I might be wrong. Its just my humble opinion anyway.

I just do not like how social media has made others feel so little, felt lifeless and felt like we are nothing and have nothing to offer. For example, getting married early. They flood the timeline with pictures of solemnization and get thousands of likes and wishes and comments like-“bestnyewww, jelesnyeww etc etc”. You know, those are enough to say that majority define happiness as getting married early. Then how about people who still has no rezeki even if they are dying to get married early. You just make things worst :(

Let’s keep the happiness between us. Share only good things and inspire people by spreading positive vibes – without having to define how happiness should be like.

Well, let’s back to basic—back to the happiness as defined by Allah in the Quran. Success as defined in the Quran by Allah. As for me, I am beyond happy ever since I knew Allah. I am still getting to know Him more and I am sooo happy to learn more and more about Him.. It makes me fall even more in love with Him.... Honestly.