Calling it Quits

For decades he has thought fostering close ties with people nearer to him would benefit him eventually. He had been most helpful to the group of people living near him including relatives and friends belonging to a religious group. Now he realised that the common belief does not hold true at all. He had been the larger contributor. The members of the  group were stagnant in the aspect of helping themselves. They were incessantly plagued with problems of all sorts and seemed to take turns too. Consequently our hero was never really free.
When he finally decided to leave he did feel a bit nervous. It had been a long relationship. Of course he would miss the home cooking, the companionship and the busyness they often got him into. However he has now a few other choices. An exciting adventure. It will take a couple of years before it will be as comfortable as it was with the old group. He will have many challenges to deal with but he forsees a better future. The old group was plagued by too many problems, some of which he found was hardly able to solve. It was too overwhelming. He need not have to deal with that.
Now he needs to inform in a clear and honest manner of his decisions. He needs to put in a very simple way so that the young and old understand. It was a long 'partnership', too long. He even needs to tell them his next moves so that they will not be overly worried about him. Accountability cannot be taken for granted. If everyone feels responsible in a way there will be less unhappiness, more harmony and peace in all communities.

Second Eye Infection

It is three years after the first eye infection I ever had. My eyes were red and teary. I resorted to home remedies. I washed my eyes thoroughly with eye lotion and saline solution.
After a week it did not get better. This time I had been more careful than before. I had my hair all clipped up so that not even a single strand fell on my forehead or touched the eyes. I had my hands sanitised by antibacterial wipes and stopped all cleaning chores about the house. Still my eyes continued to be teary and red. They looked different from previous 'attack' and the dark brown iris now seemed to be slightly clouded and losing its complete roudness. OMG! I was shocked and on the second week I went to see a general practitioner. He reprimanded me for delaying the visit. I could go blind, he said. I took the medication which included penicillin for the bacterial infection. I took the oral antibiotics and applied the eye  drops faithfully. After two days I became infuriated. The infection had not got better; instead it had gotten worse. What the heck! I paid fifty-five ringgit for this mess! However I became calm very fast later and thought it was my own fault really for not seeking a doctor's help quickly.
I thought I was going blind when I experienced a slight blurring on my right eye. Instead of going back to the GP I sought the help of an eye specialist who impressed me very much because he actually used his hands to lift my eyelids to have a close look. That was the difference between the first doctor and the specialist. The first did not come as close as a metre to look at me. He was looking at his computer screen more than at my face or my eyes. He only used his ears to listen to what I have to tell him and diagnosed the cause of infection that way. He did not even take my temperature or blood pressure as most doctors would for a middle aged person like myself.
Eventually the eye specialist concluded it was more of a viral infection that had caused the severeness of the eye inflammation. It was a flare up of a certain virus due to a failure in my immune system although initially it could be just bacterial or a reaction to some allergens.
After a week of close monitoring and careful administering of medicines prescribed by the specialist my eyes were healed in time for me to go overseas for a holiday trip. I was close to losing my clear almost normal vision. Now I learn my lesson well and not to take eyesight for granted. Seek a doctor's help quickly or else it will get more expensive.
Now I am happy to be back to my favourite pastime which is reading and painting.

The Hungry

Today I thought of the hungry more than ever. The reason was I had felt very hungry at 11:00 a.m. a bit earlier than my usual time for lunch. I felt so hungry that I had hoped there was something edible that I could put into my mouth and let it go down to that corner of stomach that I thought need filling in order to erase my sudden pang. It was not good to feel so hungry that you literally moved faster and in desperation to get the food.

Now I thought what if I was in a state that I was incapable of obtaining food, be it due to poverty or incapicitation of some sort. I have never been unfed before. I would not dare think of how I would be able to tolerate it. No water to drink even. Only your saliva to swallow. That is just terrible.

I really hope the world will think more of the people that go hungry every day. That the governments of the world will coopetate and use available and cultivable lands to grow more foods. That they do not think of making huge profits alone but to provide the population of this earth a good life rightly theirs. I think we have been too selfish.  Think about the grand meals we had, succulent fruits and vegetables on our tables, huge lobsters, gourmet dishes of all kinds , the list goes on while our friends in another part of the world have not even a grain in the mouth.