Feels Like Dying

4 Wives

There was a rich merchant who had 4 wives. He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated her to delicacies. He took great care of her and gave her nothing but the best.

He also loved the 3rd wife very much. He's very proud of her and always wanted to show off her to his friends. However, the merchant is always in great fear that she might run away with some other men.

He too, loved his 2nd wife. She is a very considerate person, always patient and in fact is the merchant's confidante. Whenever the merchant faced some problems, he always turned to his 2nd wife and she would always help him out and tide him through difficult times.

Now, the merchant's 1st wife is a very loyal partner and has made great contributions in maintaining his wealth and business as well as taking care of the household. However, the merchant did not love the first wife and although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her.

One day, the merchant fell ill. Before long, he knew that he was going to die soon. He thought of his luxurious life and told himself, "Now I have 4 wives with me. But when I die, I'll be alone. How lonely I'll be!"

Thus, he asked the 4th wife, "I loved you most, endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?" "No way!" replied the 4th wife and she walked away without another word.

The answer cut like a sharp knife right into the merchant's heart. The sad merchant then asked the 3rd wife, "I have loved you so much for all my life. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?" "No!" replied the 3rd wife. "Life is so good over here! I'm going to remarry when you die!" The merchant's heart sank and turned cold.

He then asked the 2nd wife, "I always turned to you for help and you've always helped me out. Now I need your help again. When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?" "I'm sorry, I can't help you out this time!" replied the 2nd wife. "At the very most, I can only send you to your grave." The answer came like a bolt of thunder and the merchant was devastated.

Then a voice called out : "I'll leave with you. I'll follow you no matter where you go." The merchant looked up and there was his first wife. She was so skinny, almost like she suffered from malnutrition. Greatly grieved, the merchant said, "I should have taken much better care of you while I could have !"

Actually, we all have 4 wives in our lives

a. The 4th wife is our body. No matter how much time and effort we lavish in making it look good, it'll leave us when we die.

b. Our 3rd wife ? Our possessions, status and wealth. When we die, they all go to others.

c. The 2nd wife is our family and friends. No matter how close they had been there for us when we're alive, the furthest they can stay by us is up to the grave.

d. The 1st wife is in fact our soul, often neglected in our pursuit of material, wealth and sensual pleasure.

Guess what? It is actually the only thing that follows us wherever we go. Perhaps it's a good idea to cultivate and strengthen it now rather than to wait until we're on our deathbed to lament

Growing Up!

How we have changed~

We were young and innocent, oblivious to everything. “Babies come from belly buttons”. That’s what we believe.

        We made paper planes and imitated the Power Rangers. Cooked bougainvilleas and leaves on Barbie kitchen sets, playing pretend while mummy cooked in a real kitchen. Boys? Eeeew!

        Years have passed since then. Many years. Now mum expects the cooking to be done on a real kitchen set and we dream of flying away in a real plane. We watch CSI and How I Met Your Mother. We expect to get flowers, not cook them, and we have long stopped playing pretend.

        We are not so innocent, and wonder how the younger ones can be so ignorant and oblivious. Boys? Giggles.

        We’ve grown… everywhere! Suddenly life is so much more complicated than wondering about which toys we want to play with today. Getting up means having to decide what to wear. Every day brings another question. Many of which still remain unanswered.

        People have changed. We have changed. Playground buddies are now sliding off different things, and we are swinging in different directions. The Monkey Bar is a new club in town. The grass, as usual, is greener on the other side. Now when we say, “Go fly kites”, we don’t get that enthusiastic response we used to.

        Ironic, isn’t it?

        When we were young, we used to talk about the future. Now, we try to hide our past and avoid the future. What are we afraid of? Wrinkles? Judgment? Abandonment? Gossip? Loneliness? Hurt? Change? Others? Ourselves.

        We used to play pretend, but the world’s a stage, literally, and everyone is an actor. Sometimes we wish we’d stop playing that game, get out of character and costume, remove the masks and write our own scripts.

        Conversations took place at slumber parties, and we used to tell stories and giggle till the wee hours of the morning. Now we sit in the dark corners of our rooms and speak to little screens. Our thumbs tend to move faster than our thoughts and we’ve lost the ability to look people in the eyes while having a conversation.

        Everything is suddenly virtual. We are slowly going mute. Abbreviations increase our talking space, but ironically cut down our talk time.

        Sex. Now, does not mean gender. Giggling about sex does not mean we’re embarrassed to talk about, it means we’ve thought about it. Boys are still “Ewwww!” because now it’s the men we’re after.