Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Story: Of Butterflies and Pain


There was once an old man who took a walk after tea. He ate so much and was so full that he could barely bend down to tie his shoelaces. When he walked into a field of golden blossoms, he noticed a girl walking around the flowers with a butterfly net and a container. He stood there watching her.

She would walk quietly up to a bunch of flowers and stood still before them. She would swipe quickly at the flowers and in an instant, she would catch at least 5 butterflies. It seemed as if she has caught quite a few of them in her container. Soon it was time for her to go home. She gathered all her things and walked with a light skip.

The old man was curious about this girl and so he followed her home. He saw her enter a glass building. It was a huge glass house with lots of rooms. Each room was numbered from 1 to 20. What he saw in each room stunned him completely. There were many butterflies in each room. In the lower floors of the building, the old man could see that the butterflies were countless and each tagged with a number. He watched as the girl entered a new room that was still not quite filled with butterflies. She opened up the container of butterflies and reached inside the container carefully to remove one butterfly at a time.

She examined the butterfly carefully and smiled as she admired the colours and patterns on it. As she continued to appreciate the butterfly, she began to shed a few tears. After much crying, she would tagged the butterfly with a number and let it fly around the glass room. This sequence would repeat itself each time she took out a butterfly. The old man felt rather puzzled. He wanted to know why she did that over and over again.

Then when he was in the midst of his own thoughts, he saw that the girl had walked into the lower floors of the building and was completely surrounded by butterflies in a particular room. She was heard counting the tags on the butterflies aloud… 346, 305, 298, 249… It became rather clear to the old man what the girl was doing. So he went up to the door and knocked on it. The girl came to the door and gave the old man a puzzled look. “Who are you?” asked the girl. The old man said to her, “You don’t know me but I have been watching you the whole afternoon and I think you are killing yourself with these butterflies.” He shaked his head as he shared with her what he thought she was doing. She got very angry and slammed the door on his face. She rushed into her last room and sat there and started to cry.

The old man knew that the girl would not listen to his words for now and so he decided to leave for home. The girl sat there for a long time and stared at the butterflies in her room for a longer time.

At the first light of dawn, the girl was seen taking a container and walking towards the same field where she was catching the butterflies. One by one, she removed their tags and released them into the air. A peaceful smile came to her face as she watched them fly… free at last.

The old man stood by the side as he watched her let go of the butterflies. He smiled and knew that she understood what he had spoken to her.

What was it that the old man had said to the girl?

This is what he said to her:
IT IS TIME YOU STOP COUNTING THE NUMBER OF TIMES YOU FELT PAIN IN YOUR LIFE...TIME TO STOP REVIEWING THEM OVER AND OVER AGAIN. IT IS TIME TO STOP WEARING ALL YOUR PAIN LIKE A BADGE OF BRAVERY…

IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO LET GO OF THE PAIN AND LET IT FLY! THEN YOU ARE TOTALLY FREE OF THEM. THEN YOU CAN TRULY LIVE YOUR LIFE FOR ONCE!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The Story of The Little Blue Bear

Once upon a time, there lived a little blue bear named Terry. He was very different from the other animals who lived in the forest. You see, he felt different because he was blue rather than brown like the rest of the bears in his family. None of his brothers and sisters wanted to play with him. Sometimes he would wish that he was of the same colour like the rest. He tried to roll himself in mud to look more brown. But alas the rain would wash all that away and he would become blue again. Poor Terry… he had very little friends who would not laugh at him for being blue.

Butterfly and Frog were his best friends and they often play together in a little valley over the mountains. Terry felt most happy when his two friends came to visit him. You see, Butterfly and Frog did not mind that Terry was different… in fact they liked him as he is… being the only blue bear in the forest.

On most days, Terry is a happy bear with little worries… but there was someone whom Terry was terrified of. Her name is Garf the cat…she was a big bully. She scratched and meowed loudly at Terry all the time. She loved to jump out and frighten poor Terry. Terry was so timid that he would shiver at the thought of Garfield.

Butterfly and Frog hated Garf but there was little they could do to help Terry. You see, they were also bullied by Garf. She would chase and try to catch Butterfly whilst she was distracted amongst the flowers. Frog was always pounced upon by the cat who often come to the river to have a drink of water. Poor Frog lost one of his forelegs as a result of such an encounter.

One fine afternoon, Terry was strolling along past a well. He heard a soft meowing from within. He peered through the mouth of the well and asked, “Are you trapped down there?”. Just then, a flutter of wings came before Terry and Butterfly shouted angrily, “Leave that nasty cat alone! She deserves this after what I have been through!”. It was then she told Terry that Garf had slipped and fell into the well whilst trying to catch Butterfly a few minutes ago.

Poor Garf…the night was coming and she was growing cold in that wet and slimy well. “Plee…pleeease… helpppp… mmmmeeee!” stammered Garf as she pleaded with Terry. Frog came hopping by…when he heard from Butterfly about Garf’s misfortune. He peered into the well and let out a loud guffaw….”Hahaha, how does it feel down there? Hehehehe…mighty cold I do believe!!!” and he hopped away happily. Poor Terry, he was torn between helping Garf or leaving her in her pathetic state. Terry’s heart softened and he decided to help Garf despite what she had done to him in the past.

So he went into the forest and found a long log. Although he was still a baby bear, he had just enough strength to roll the log with his front paws and pushed one end into the well. Garf jumped quickly onto the log and scampered out of the well. She landed in a tired heap on the ground and whispered, “Thank you, Terry…I’m sorry for being mean to you in the past!” She fell into a deep sleep… Terry carried her gently back to her home.

Till this day, everyone would see the orange cat and the blue bear playing and laughing together like two best friends. No animal would ever dare to laugh at Terry for being blue again. You see, Garf will always be there to help her best friend, the little blue bear!!!

~The End ~


Written on 8th April 1997 at 4:38pm.
It took me less than half an hour to come up with this story in my first draft.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Safe in A Crazy World

Written by Corrinne May Ying Foo
Copyright 2003, Corrmay Gourmet Music (ASCAP)

I try to smile my tears away
I try to keep my cool
Oh but one more door gets in my way
I feel like such a fool
Trampled and bitter
My heart just wants to bleed and stop
Believing in me
It feels like nothing is for certain and that nothing comes for free

When they're lowering the curtain to the theatre of my dreams
I stumble and I crumble and I'm
Sinking to my knees but you... you cradle me

Chorus:
You keep me flying You keep me smiling

You keep me safe in a crazy world
You understand me
Embrace my fragility
You keep me safe in a crazy world
And in your arms I find the strength to believe in me again

Noise keeps chasing me
No matter where I go
Oh and life likes pretending that it's
On a TV show
When it's hard to tell what's real
From what the world just wants to preach
You are the voice I seek

Repeat Chorus

Just when I thought my world had crumbled... this song reminded me of God's love for me.
Just when I thought it is my needy personality that pushes away my friend, this song reminded me that I am completely and utterly loved by God. I am not desperate for love!
Just when I felt so tired of being, this song gave me the reason to continue living.

Thanks Corrinne for writing such a song that gave me the real reason for my existence!