the story of tigress

She was the first female to rule the jungle. Before her, female leaders were unheard of. She took the jungle by storm, with her remarkable intelligence and fierce determination. Tigress knew almost everything including the most useless trivia. She spoke the languages of other animals fluently and one of her habits was to insist that every animal in her kingdom spoke correctly. It is, according to her, a sign of strength and intelligence. She frowned upon grammatical errors and was forever correcting mistakes of others, regardless of the situation, which more than often led to embarrassing situations.

Her children knew this only too well. They all had their share of awkward situations whereby their friends, on visits to the tigress residence, had been stopped mid-sentence to be corrected gramatically. This usually led to silent moments, faces turned bright red, followed by murmuring of awkward thank yous, eyes averted and after tinkering with the glass or emitting unnecessary coughs, their friends usually got up and left. They rarely returned.

This left the children exasperated. They begged their mother to act normal, but Tigress told them off. You should only be ashamed of your ignorance, never of your knowledge. And it is the duty of the more gifted minds to teach and correct the weaker ones. Her children secretly disagreed. For them those with more gifted minds should use their minds to think of better ways to impart knowledge, ways that did not involved belittling others. But they never voiced out their disagreement. Tigress had strong views on genetic segregation. She believed some species were simply born with better genes, therefore they were equipped to rule the world. She did not believe talent and hardwork alone were enough for anyone to excell. Tigress believed that her children were born better than others and they should forever made that clear to everyone. Do not let others tell you what to do, Tigress always said. You were born special and you would rule the world. You were different than the mediocres out there.

Strangely none of her children felt special. True, they did not fit in. Others either respected or feared them. When they were little they used to express their discomfort of the situation but Tigress had been far from understanding. Original minds never fit in. Another Tigress philosophy.

The truth is, her children were tired of having to act special when deep down they knew they were no different than other animals. They had their strengths and weaknesses just like every other creature in the planet. They simply wanted to belong.

And Tigress, despite her brilliant mind, had failed to understand this simple need. She was too busy shaping her children to be distinct animals. She taught them languages, science, maths, astronomy and religion. But she had failed to teach them how to embrace life.

There had been no wind the day Tigress died. Every animal in her kingdom came in tears. They feared the future without their powerful leader. No one could match her. She was simply too extraordinary.

They all wept and praised her greatness.

All except her own children who left the jungle and never looked back.

Missing Person Alert

My child had gone missing but I am not sure for how long. She might have been gone for a long time without me realizing it. It just hit me one day when I suddenly felt like I had done something wrong but not sure what...have you experienced that kind of feeling? It's a bit scary.

So I started to recall the past weeks of my life and I realized that each day was not that different from others, and at some point I realized with a jolt that my child, Passion, had gone missing. She was nowhere to be seen.

I frantically began searching for her. I contacted the local authorities. They asked gruelling questions like when was the last time I saw her? Why didn't I put any attention on her? How on earth a mother like me could completely forgot I had a child?

They upset me, the authorities. I despise people who act like they know better. Do they know how hard it is to notice anything when you walk down the very same road every day for the past thirty odd years of your life? Sure there are new buildings emerged here and there and the air is getting stickier, but the overall feelings you get when you take each single step on that very same road, they never change. It's the same dull, nagging feeling telling you that you are simply trapped.

In the early days, I remember Passion used to bounce up and down the street with me. Her presence gave me sparks in the inside. Those were the days when I felt the world was my oyster. But do that repeatedly. Do the same thing over and over again and it gets to you. Soon, the only thing you notice is your own weariness. That must have been the time when Passion slipped out, silently, while I was wallowing in my own bitterness.

And those pompous authorities, they looked at me disdainfully. Passion is a living being, they said. You can't just ignore her and expect her to stick around. She needed encouragements, attentions, she needed your focus. You need to nurture her. Ignite her.

I didn't argue. I knew it was a lost cause. Just like every other mishap in my life, I had only myself to blame. Nobody thought bad of Passion because she deserted me. They all blamed me for being so inattentive and unfocus that I drove her away.

I miss Passion I really do. Now that I've realized she's no longer by my side I think about how everything would be different with her around. The same street that I have to walk up and down everyday, it doesn't change, but with Passion I could walk on it without the heavy pressure on my chest like I have now. The walk would be a much, much lighter walk.

Passion if you can hear me, do come home to me.

I'd cook you a nice dinner and we could sit on the porch with mugs of hot cocoas and the world would taste as sweet again.

2 August 2008

The World and You Tonight - Simply Red

Don't rush around
The world will wait for you
And too much time is lost
On all the things we have to do
There's nothing more important baby
Right now than you and me
So come a little closer darling
And turn the lights down low a key
And life could be so wonderful
A perfect home and a family
When you're lying next to me
I'm everything I want to be
With the world and you tonight
With the world and you tonight
With you my love
The world's a better place
And every day with you
Will hold a treasured memory
Your embrace could steal me forever
And nothing else matters
When I hold you in my arms
And life could be so wonderful
A perfect home and a family
'cos you are everything to me
I'm the lock and you're the key
To the world and me tonight
To the world and me tonight
It's the world and you tonight
You are my world
With the world and me tonight