Peter grew up in a small village

MyWriters FirstLiner
Week 10/2018
10th - 17th December 2018

Peter grew up in a small remote village where the old and sickly were left to die in the deep jungle.

Submitted on 14Dec2018

S'il vous plait

MyWriters Poetry Prompt
34th Prompt of 2018
5the - 11th Dec 2018

Using the word, "Please"

"S'il vous plait",
The French would say,
When making a request.
"Please",
One word will do in the English way,
While leaving out the rest.

"If",
Those who speak French would begin,
As if unsure if you'll agree.
"Please"
The English thinks it not a sin,
Your helpfulness to see.

"If it pleases you",
Utters the French in full,
Not a liberty they'll take.
"Please"
Is the only word we learn in school,
When politely a request we make.


Submitted on 5th Dec 2018

Keong sped away

MyWriters FirstLiner
Week  9/ 2018
3rd - 9th Dec 2018

"Keong sped away, his heart beating wildly, seeing in the rear-view mirror the lifeless body of the child he had just run over."

Submitted on 5th Dec 2018

The little known life of Abraham Lincoln

Finished reading this intriguing biography of Abraham Lincoln today. This book, written by Dale Carnegie in 1932, was inspired by Irishman T.P. O'Connor who wrote a column called "Men and Memories" for the Morning Post in London. Carnegie was surprised and fascinated at how little he knew about many personal aspects of Abraham Lincoln's life. Hence the book entitled, "Lincoln the Unknown"

This book presents Lincoln's life as one long odyssey of struggles and failures punctuated by occasional success and happy outcomes, which unfortunately were few and far between. Lincoln, the Unknown is a tale of a sad life fraught with seemingly unending disappointments and setbacks from one chapter to another.

By the time he was 49 years old, Lincoln was described as having "arrived" at failure in business and bleak unhappiness in marriage. Although he was fairly successful in his Law practice, he had but only frustration and defeat in politics.

Yet the 49th year was the turning point in Lincoln's life.

Starting with his first and most famous political battle in U.S. history, Lincoln lived the remaining seven years of his short life achieving enduring fame, going down in history as the most popular, the 16th President of the United States of America.

Perhaps one of the "unknown" things of Lincoln is his favourite poem, a short poem about the need to refrain from being proud because life is short and fleeting, which he used as a maxim throughout his life.  (p74)

"Oh, why should the spirit
of mortal be proud?
Like a swift-fleeting meteor,
a fast-flying cloud,
A flash of the lightning,
a break of the wave,
He passes from life
to rest in the grave."

Of course no story about Lincoln, notwithstanding "The Unknown" part of the book-title, would be complete without his well-known speeches: his Gettysburg Address in 1863 and his Second Inauguration Speech in 1865 (please see Appendix A and B below respectively).

One may say Lincoln was more well known as an orator than as a politician. Today he is remembered for his fine speeches more than for his political or military achievements.

A question that one may ask at the end of this book is, what was the key to Lincoln's successful and inspiring speeches. The answer is found about halfway through the book, in Chapter 14, describing his rise to political power:

Firstly, Lincoln was unyielding in preparation.
He was always thinking about his speeches and would write notes on scraps of paper and envelopes whenever the thoughts, ideas and phrases came to mind.

Secondly, Lincoln was meticulous in revision.
He was constantly revising, recasting and improving on the words that he wanted to say in public or in meetings.

Finally, Lincoln was unwavering in his conviction.
He believed in speaking the truth, even if it meant losing support and becoming unpopular. "I am willing, if necessary, to perish with it . . ." he was often known to tell colleagues who warned him of the pitfall of making unpopular statements.

Appendix A

 p174, 19Nov1863, after victory at the Battle of Gettysburg
Lincoln delivered his famous speech, which started with the words, "Four score and seven years ago . . ." and ended with "Of the people, by the people, for the people . . ."

"Four score and seven years ago
Our fathers brought forth upon this continent,
A new nation, conceived in Liberty,
And dedicated to the proposition
That all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war,
Testing whether that nation, or any nation
So conceived and so dedicated,
Can long endure. We are met
On a great battle-field of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of
That field, as a final resting place
For those who here gave their lives
That that nation might live.
It is altogether fitting and proper
That we should do this.

But, in a larger sense,
We can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—
We can not hallow—this ground. The brave men,
Living and dead, who struggled here
Have consecrated it, far above our poor power
To add or detract. The world will little note,
Nor long remember what we say here,
But it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here
To the unfinished work which they who fought here
Have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated
To the great task remaining before us—
That from these honored dead we take
Increased devotion to that cause for which
They gave the last full measure of devotion—
That we here highly resolve that these dead
Shall not have died in vain—that this nation,
Under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—
And that government of the people,
By the people, for the people,
Shall not perish from the earth.

Appendix B

 p192, 04Mar1865
Lincoln's Second Inauguration Speech, a speech so eloquent that it was declared by Earl Curzon, the Chancellor of Oxford University to be the purest form of human eloquence . . . almost divine. This is the well-known, "With malice toward none, with charity for all . . ." speech.

The closing paragraphs are extracted below:

"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations"

A cursory rhyme

Today, I'm somewhat dismayed at various news reports of extremist racist, political and religious groups fanning the fire of hatred and instigating their communities to protest in huge numbers, even to repeat the riots of May 13, 1969, to oppose our government's consideration for ratification of The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), a UN convention.

At the same time, I'm surprised by news of the King marrying a Russian wife in Moscow. (The report by The New Straits Times, published two days ago, seems to have been taken down for unknown reasons.)

Link: 

https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2018/11/434058/agong-marries-miss-moscow-2015-glittering-russian-ceremony

This little rhyme comes to mind:

Hey diddle, diddle.
ICERD is in a muddle.
Protesters threaten the scene.
The whole world laughs at such poor sport,
And the king speaks Russian to the queen.

This is a cursory rhyme adapted from a nursery rhyme.

The art of slowly sayin' nothin'.

(1) KTM: they make you wait, without telling you why.
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Sometime back in mid-September, I was trying to book some train tickets online to go to JB. Due to ongoing double tracking and electrification rail-works, KTM has been limiting the advanced booking window to a month or two ahead. I noticed they have posted an announcement on their web-site that northern sector ETS (Padang Besar - Gemas) was open until end of December.

However, nothing was said about the southern sector Intercity trains (Gemas - JB). I need both ETS as well as Intercity tickets to complete my journey to JB, but when I searched for available trains, Intercity was open only up to 14th November. I kept getting a "Train not available" message for dates after that.

As ETS tickets are fast selling-out, and I need to confirm my Intercity bookings before I can book ETS, I sent KTM a message on their Twitter page asking for help.

KTM did not reply me, even after I sent a second tweet to them.

After waiting for two weeks, I sent KTM yet another message. At last I got a reply on 09Nov18

"Hi. Masih belum dapat maklumat dari pihak yg berkenaan. Jika ada informasi baru, kami akan warwarkan di media sosial dari semasa ke semasa."

(Hi, there's still no information from the relevant parties. If there are any new information, we will publish them on social media from time to time)

Yeah right, that's a very helpful reply indeed . . . not.

Finally, after checking their online ticketing site three times a day after meals for another five days, at last their Intercity trains are open for booking for dates after 15th November. Sadly, the ETS for the northern sector has all but sold out for my required travel dates.

I had to settle for express buses instead.


(2) MyEg: when they can't explain, they just send you a link.
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Two weeks ago, I sent an email to MyEg complaining that my new password (which I had successfully changed without any problem) could not be used during log in.

Like KTM, there was no reply from MyEg for two weeks.

(I'm suspecting that there's some hidden formula used by these corporate people that makes them keep mum for two weeks.)

So, I re-sent my email to them again today. Voila, here's their reply:

"Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for choosing MyEG Services.
Kindly be informed the activation link to reset password already sent to your registered email . . . .
Kindly check inbox, junk or spam for the notification . . ."

Of course, obediently without question, I proceeded to reset my password and logged in successfully.

However, I still do not know why I got the "Password field must not be blank" error message when I logged in with my new password two weeks ago. There were no warning or error messages during that Change Password process then.

The question remains, "Will this happen again in future?"


(3) Fireflyz: utter lots of mumbo-jumbo, say nothing.
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Today, I came across a news report posted by a Singaporean online newspaper that Fireflyz airline has suspended all flights into and out of SIN w.e.f. 01Dec18, citing in vague terms until the "relevant" authorities have cleared "remaining matters" in relation to the Singapore authorities plan "to move turbo-prop operations from Changi International to Seletar". (The same message appears on their web-site)

"Upon final approval from the authorities, Firefly will then resume its flights into Singapore. In the meantime, arrangements are being made for all affected passengers." it was reported.

That's a lot of words used in saying nothing.

I am one of those affected passengers, and I'm waiting for their "arrangements" to be made, hopefully soon, and not after another two weeks.

What's the point?

MyWriters Poetry Prompt
33rd prompt / 2018


What's the point of poetry prompt
When one's poem isn't prompt?
When poet's thoughts wander around
For want of rhymes yet to be found.

What's the point, What's the point?

What's the point of prompted poetry
When one has neither words nor story.
When scarcely an idea comes to mind
And the poet's turning a corner blind.

What's the point, What's the point?

Yet when one is prompted to write in rhyme,
Based on a prompt, to be finished on time,
The poet brings forth
words both timid and bold,
And weaves them into a poem,
for all to behold.

That's the point.

Submitted on 21-11-2018