Thinking in the park

見晴公園, located not far from my kousen, but only until last weekend, i finally went to Her. It is just a park, full of trees, and just trees. Of course, there are paths for us to walk around, and some places for us to rest in the middle of green. Overall, it is just a ordinary park, with the amazed green, filled up your eyesight.


Imagine you walk in the green, without thinking the direction, but just walk and walk, yet you come back to your starting point in the end. Well, I did that that day. Just following the path in front of me, with my own pace, very slow pace indeed. What was i thinking along the walking then? Please forgive me for thinking about our country again. This time, i thought about the park in Malaysia.

Well, almost every residence area has a park. And sure there are trees in those parks too. Take KLCC as an example, many trees in the city park, right? But then, when i was walking that day, i had a question in my mind: When a park is built, do they replant the trees? What i mean is, the trees which we see today, were they taken from other places and replanted in the park? I'm not sure about it, that's why I can't be so sure about this. Yet, i think they are replanted trees. So, what's wrong with replanted trees?

Malaysia is well-known for her natural beauty. Every year, lots of tourists come to enjoy the beauty of Mother nature of Malaysia. Make yourself proud with it! Ok, what i am trying to say is, we can do better with the trees around us. Not cutting down them, not taking them to another place to be replanted, but just keep down and make it a natural park for everyone of us. Yes, we do have National Parks. However, how many people have a chance to go there? From what i saw last time, most of the tourists in the National Park were foreigners. Where are we, when many from overseas saying that they will come again to this beautiful green land?

Why can't we keep an area to be a green park, when we are buiding houses for residence area or other uses? Isn't it better than redesigning and rebuilding a leisure park? From that, we can easily get ourselves into the green, and at the same time buiding up a greenness city! That is what the government always wishes to accomplish, isn't it? So, may be we should learn from Japan, the ways they stay harmony with the nature.

"Today an estimated 59% of Malaysia remains forested. The rapid expansion of the timber industry, particularly after the 1960s, has brought about a serious erosion problem in the country's forest resources. However, in line with the Government's commitment to protect the environment and the ecological system, forestry resources are being managed on a sustainable basis and accordingly the rate of tree felling has been on the decline." - Wikipedia.org

We can, and should do better with the priceless assets that we have. It is not a job for government only, but everyone of us should take our own part in it. Don't underestimate one effort, it may change it all. At least, it will help our children.

There is only one Malaysia, one Earth.

I have a dream.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" ___________________________________________________________________
This is the famous speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, when he spoke of his desire for a future where blacks and whites would coexist harmoniously as equals. Here i am to share this speech with all of you, after i was asked a question from one of my friend: What is your dream?

I couldn't remember when was the last time i was asked by someone or by myself, the same question. Or may be i should say in this way: i didn't think about 'dream' for a very long time already.

"Don't you have a dream?"
Yes, of course, i have. But, i can't see it clearly now.
"What did you mean by can't see it clearly now?"
I am not sure.

Education reform? Oh, it can't be done unless you do something on the politics. So, no choice but to step into that field? But can I stand with the sacrifices? What i know is that, I can't help myself but only wondering about the future of our country. Especially when i read the comments, the words, the policys, given by the one who are sitting on the Kerusi(remember the Form 5 sastera?) Things are not going as well as we wish. What can we do? Am i just over reacting on the not very big matters?

I don't know. That's why, i can't see my dream clearly. I am not sure about my path yet, though i am on the so-called bright road, which many can only dream of. In the mean time, i only can be sure that, i need to finish my degree here no matter what. After that? Only time can tell.

我怀念的

我怀念的是无话不说

我怀念的是一起做梦

我怀念的是分开以后

依然相聚谈笑的缘分

我记得那段日子

也记得那首首歌

记得那片星空

最紧的握手

最真的友情

忘不了

（改编自孙燕姿的“我怀念的”）

学校放假，闲来无事，于是再次放纵地游览网络。岂知，路过朋友的部落格，突然惊觉自己离开怡保的故友已很远很远了。不是在距离上那么简单，而是曾经同窗欢闹的故友，如今却如陌生人般，拥有各自的世界：不见我影儿的世界。

这是种什么样的心态呢？是羡慕，也是遗憾吧。。。羡慕他们依然可以并肩走在织梦的路上；遗憾，我只能是个读者，听众。想不到，这种感受，过了两年，亦在，仍在。。。

如今，故友纷纷各分东西，走上自己的道路，寻找属于自己的明天。几何，能再相聚呢？那天，其中一位故友问我，几时可以再见？我不假思索地回答：明年！甚至，我还说，不管对方在多远，我都会找时间去见对方。

真的吗？我犹豫了。当然，可以做到就真的很好。但，事与愿违也是常常发生。而且，他日再见，情依然吗？或许有些真的会因少联系而淡薄，难免的吧！已经有很多，是淡薄了。曾经一个世界，今已两个世界。得失之间，我还是沉陷失界多。。。

哥说，离开中学后，就得忘却中学的一切，展望未来，发掘全新的自己。我明白他的意思。他并不是说连友谊也得忘却。但是，正是这友谊，及昔日种种喜怒哀乐的乐曲，使我一直放不下，使我不时地怀念。怀念，固是甜，却也酸。尤其走在只有微风相伴的路上，头上的云朵似有似无，不知觉就会走进时光隧道，想着明日的种种可能。

好怀念，一切。