reflections was one of the themes in teens aL.I.V.E. and that was what most teens aL.I.V.E. classes would be having this time of the year. but then i found myself in somewhat ‘reflections’ mode the whole weekend myself. like whatever i see, or read, i would stop to think, and felt my heart ripping because of either, i was just so touched, or plain effected.

1. i had been reading Tariq Ramadan’s The Messenger on the bus, and it came to reflecting how the first followers of our Prophet faced all kinds of hardships and especially tortured by the leaders in Mecca. one of them was the well known story of Ammar and his parents Yasir and Sumayyah. the first mujahids. died in the course of defending one’s faith, no matter how hard life was. i don’t know why, but it touched my heart at that very moment, causing me to shed uncalled for tears. having read that, i got to share bits of it with my students. here is a family, poor yes, but rich in faith and strong in their hearts to what they believe in, would go through thick and thin together. suffer together. here is a family promised of paradise.

2. life of ryan, a reality tv show of a young professional skater. you know about his life, his skater-career. what got me hooked to the show is not so much about skating or his life per se, but more of the portrayal of a young man, no matter how popular and ‘glamorous’ his life could be, at the end of the day, he’s just a normal guy with needs and responsibilities as a big brother, a son to divorced parents, and a friend.

but here’s the deal, which made me, literally, fall in love with ryan, his love for his youngest brother. for a 17 year old, ryan showed honest and sincere, truly responsible towards his brothers, Shane and Kane. the love between these brothers, it just shows throughout.

there’s this one episode, kane started to think he got left out by the family, since everybody seemed busy with their things. ryan, having found out kane’s feeling down, decided to bring kane out. so the scene was showing ryan asked kane to accompany him (as a favour to ryan!!) and kane who was playing his PSP, without one second thought, put away his PSP, with an immediate OK! they went to this Legoland, and you could just see how happy kane was to be spending the day with his brother ryan, it’s so sweet and brotherly. and how ryan kept saying thanks to kane for accompanying him, and kane would say yeah no problem, but with pride, he’s just glowing!

and kane would be cuddling and hugging his big brother like second nature, ryan, on the other hand, was never embarrased to express some brotherly love to his brothers in the public. i’m just amazed at this guy. untypical of what we used to ‘think’ americans are.

they were so close that when ryan told kane he wanted to move out, kane actually cried and said “but i’m going to miss you!”. i cried too. haha. it’s just so touching la!

i hope brothers out there would watch and learn from ryan in some ways. well, it applies to everybody who have a young child under their care. which brings me to another thought.

3. some young parents who don’t seem to give much love and respect to their young children. sometimes, i would see young couples (tattooed hands, dyed hairs nonetheless. i’m not stereotyping, but they just are, you know). i would start to think oh what a happy family, beautiful parents to beautiful children. and then the young son did one ‘budak2′ thing, you know, like running around, touching things, and the parent would actually scold the young guy right there and then. not enough with that, would even start shouting swear words at the poor little child! i couldn’t even put those swearing words here. and sometimes, i thought i could see hate in the parents’ eyes.

it’s just so sad to grow up being sweared at. how is the environment the little child is growing in? i just wonder, what are these children exposed to?!

4. i’m putting this video, watch and reflect. intepret it in your own words and thoughts. if you’re not touched by this. i have no say, but have a look.