The Simple Life

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

Now you must know that a Town Mouse once upon a time went on a
visit to his cousin in the country. He was rough and ready, this
cousin, but he loved his town friend and made him heartily
welcome. Beans and bacon, cheese and bread, were all he had to
offer, but he offered them freely. The Town Mouse rather turned
up his long nose at this country fare, and said: "I cannot
understand, Cousin, how you can put up with such poor food as
this, but of course you cannot expect anything better in the
country; come you with me and I will show you how to live. When
you have been in town a week you will wonder how you could ever
have stood a country life." No sooner said than done: the two
mice set off for the town and arrived at the Town Mouse's
residence late at night. "You will want some refreshment after
our long journey," said the polite Town Mouse, and took his friend
into the grand dining-room. There they found the remains of a
fine feast, and soon the two mice were eating up jellies and cakes
and all that was nice. Suddenly they heard growling and barking.
"What is that?" said the Country Mouse. "It is only the dogs of
the house," answered the other. "Only!" said the Country Mouse.
"I do not like that music at my dinner." Just at that moment the
door flew open, in came two huge mastiffs, and the two mice had to
scamper down and run off. "Good-bye, Cousin," said the Country
Mouse, "What! going so soon?" said the other. "Yes," he replied;

"Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear."

While I was at Kuala Terengganu to drop my sister back for the new semester it made me realize how simple the life people live there. No big shopping malls, no traffic jams, no Mamaks and 7-11 every corners. Family institution is strong and people are not so individualistic. Such a peaceful and relaxing place to be.

Being a city boy, growing up in Kuala Lumpur has been astounding. Shopping malls and buildings poping up like mushrooms, new roads, new tolls, McDonald's and KFC's going 24-7 and fastfood chains are blooming faster than 7-11. People are in their own world, kids playing PSPs, teens listening to Ipods, parents on phones all the time. Such gloomy and tense feeling every corner.

With all the pursuing of gadgets and knowledge we would become more efficient, more work is done to obtain pride and wealth. But along the way we get lost in relationships, health, our sanity. As the world advance in many ways, social issues like poverty, violence, pollution, injustice, discrimination, crime, as well as abortion and autism to name a few.

We believe that with education and knowledge will make us a better person yet statistic and facts tells us otherwise. We have seen, heard and some of us have experienced the consequence of social ills. Have we lost our way? Should we get back to basics of being human? Is less more?

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

There was once a young Shepherd Boy who tended his sheep at the foot of a mountain near a dark forest. It was rather lonely for him all day, so he thought upon a plan by which he could get a little company and some excitement. He rushed down towards the village calling out "Wolf, Wolf," and the villagers came out to meet him, and some of them stopped with him for a considerable time. This pleased the boy so much that a few days afterwards he tried the same trick, and again the villagers came to his help. But shortly after this a Wolf actually did come out from the forest, and began to worry the sheep, and the boy of course cried out "Wolf, Wolf," still louder than before. But this time the villagers, who had been fooled twice before, thought the boy was again deceiving them, and nobody stirred to come to his help. So the Wolf made a good meal off the boy's flock, and when the boy complained, the wise man of the village said:

"A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth."

Lying was a habit since I was a child. During my primary school days I use to lie to my parents to buy magazines and junk food. The worst part of it was stealing stuff from 7-11 and selling them in school to have more money to spend. I got caught several times stealing and lying from my parents and punishment was painfully memorable.

The moral of the fable was learned the hard way when my parents doubted me even when I started to tell the truth and stopped lying. I only discovered that being honest has it's rewards as I continued to be truthful and my parents began to trust me. After all telling the truth is way much easier then lying.

Growing older now, lying is a whole new level. We lie to gain attention, acceptance, to maintain a secret or reputation, protect someone's feelings or to avoid a punishment. Fabrication, Bluffing, Misleading, Exaggeration, White lies, Noble lies..., all Deceptive. When gray areas surface, tolerance happens. Do we still believe a lie is still a lie?

There can be two alternative consequences of lying: it may be discovered or remain undiscovered. When a lie is discovered, the state of mind and behavior of the liar is no longer predictable. Is telling the truth not that hard after all?