Ranked as one of Asia Pacific's top 5 resorts, and it's easy to see why. Highly reccommend it!!! Will definitely write more about it - once i download and collate the photos (and some would suspect that this means never).
Anyway, daddy was telling us about Mr HKP and his bold, "irreverent" spunkiness during OCS and later on in his life. He sounds like a nice fella, and what's especially cool is that in spite of his success and significant material possessions, he's still down-to-earth, still a man of character. (or so says daddy. i don't know- i haven't met him.) I'm always impressed and inspired by successful people who do not turn into ... well... spineless lame dogs or blood-thirsty wolves. Trials and tribulations build character, and Success seems to be a great test of character.
But it's really his wife whom i am more interested in.
I remember reading about her in magazines in my growing up years. (Woman of the Year, was an NMP, had long silky straight hair, held her weight amongst mighty men in the marketplace, always impeccably dressed, lotsa style and class, happily married, and to a rich man.)
And as i talked about what i remembered of her , i realized that she had, strangely, affected my life even though i have also never met her. Perhaps because she was portrayed as an icon of female success during my growing up years, those widely-publicised traits have somehow become my subconscious markers of success then. Yes, even down to that long straight silky hair part.
And i don't have the slightest clue about the really important aspects of her as a role-model - like is she selfless? Gentle? Patient? Filial? Humble? Truthful?
It's like the world has joined forces to establish "Miss Perfect" into the minds of young girls, based on surface, material, worldly traits which right now (with renewed mind, perhaps?) i cannot fully agree with.
Cinderella was just as kind and virtuous and complete when she was grubby and cleaning the house. Why did it seem as if things were made right only when a prince came? (sublimal message: girls need a rich and powerful man to rescue/ complete them). Why did she need a fairy god-mother to dress and adorn her to be made attractive? (sublimal message: key to success for women: looks, looks, looks!) And what was the basis of a marriage relationship? Just lust and passion-of-the-moment. Woman's responsibility: Look good. Look, when Prince Charming fell for her, he didn't know she was kind, patient, loving, long-suffering etc alright. He spotted a fresh-faced beauty, they danced and that was it! there wasn't even any honesty and open-ness in their relationship! She hid her humble roots from him, didn't even tell him where she stayed, what her hobbies were, what her values, goals and dreams were...
actually , i love fairy tales. They are enjoyable. And the actual morals-of-the-stories are usually valid and honourable. Many before me have picked bones regarding the unpolitically-correct details. My bone is not that they are un-PC, but that they establish some incorrect values into a child, and the problem is that they're usually read at an age when the self-worth and value system of a child is being shaped.
So instead of traditional fairy-tales for bedtime-reading, my kids are gonna get their dose of David and Ruth and Esther and Deborah and Mother Teresa.
And from young they'll know that happily-ever-after doesn't just come because they got married and the birds came to sing at their wedding. They'll know that happily after is when they arrive in heaven, and God says to them "well done good and faithful servants".
They'll know that they're precious not just when a Prince decides they're pretty enough to be his bride, or when they're rich and powerful and can get the babes at the roar of their Ferrari. They'll know that they are precious because Jesus loves them and made them and suffered for them.
They'll know that life is not about amassing wealth and fame. They'll know that even if they spend their days on earth in pain, poverty and suffering for their love for Jesus, it is a joy, an honour, and a life well-lived.
They won't grow up being obsessed about having straight silky hair or the coolest gadgets or the swankiest apartments, but they'd be concerned about their character growth and the old lady living alone in the one-room flat.
Man, they'd be aliens! =)
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But there being 365 days in a year, and perhaps 8 years worth of bedtime reading to be done for each child, i'd need 2920 stories!
Gosh i hope i'd be able to find enough of those.... Or perhaps i can write them myself! Heyyyy.... That'd be fun! Huiping u wanna be my illustrator?
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