There can be only one

Read this in some profile. The grammar was really bad, so I cleaned it up a little.

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Once upon a time, there was an old man and a child who were lying under a big tree near a grass field.

The child asked the old man: Sir, i'm confused, how can we find our soul-mate? Can you please help me ?

Old man:(silent for a few seconds, then he answered)
Well, it's pretty hard and yet easy question...

Child: Why is that???

Old man: Look, there are a lot of grass and flowers there. Why don't you just walk among the grass but please never walk back-wards, just walk ahead.

On the way, try to find a beautiful flower. Pick it up and then give it to me. But you can pick only one.

Child : Well ok then... wait for me.

A few minutes later

Child: I'm back!

Old man: Hmmm....well I don't see any beautiful flower in your hands.

Child: On my journey , I found a few beautiful flowers , but I thought that I would find a better one further ahead, so i didn't pick it up.

But very soon I realize that I'm already at the end of the field and I hadn' t picked up any flower. Cause you told me not to go back ,so I didnt look back.

Old man : That's what happens in real life

Something about LOVE

Never rush in love for it never runs out. Let love be the one to knock at your door, so by the time you start to fall, you know that your feeling is for sure.

Love has its ups and downs, its twists and turns. Love leaves you pain, teaches you until you learn and even if love takes so long, it always takes you to where you belong.

Women listen to music because they are in love. Men listen to music because they want to fall in love.

Some people don't get any respect at all because they are asking for the respect they deserve.

You don't marry someone you can live with. You marry the person who you cannot live without.

There is no such a thing as ignorance, but only degrees of wisdom.

Love is not about finding the right person, but creating the right relationship. It's not about how much love you have in the beginning but how much love you build till the end, coz love is all there is.

Love and Madness

Read this somewhere online and found it to be somewhat interesting.

So sharing it here....And of course it's NOT real!

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A long time ago, before the world was created and humans set foot on it for the first time, virtues and vices floated around and were bored, not knowing what to do.

One day, all the vices and virtues were gathered together and were more bored than ever.

Suddenly, Ingenious came up with an idea: "Let's play hide and seek!"

All of them liked the idea and immediately Madness shouted: "I want to count, I want to count!"

And since nobody was crazy enough to want to seek Madness, all the others agreed.

Madness leaned against a tree and started to count: "One, two, three..."

As Madness counted, the vices and virtues went hiding.

Tenderness hung itself on the horn of the moon, Treason hid in a pile of garbage. Fondness curled up between the clouds and Passion went to the centre of the earth.

Lie said that it would hide under a stone, but hid at the bottom of the lake, whilst Avarice entered a sack that he ended up breaking.

And Madness continued to count: "...seventy nine, eighty, eighty one..."

By this time, all the vices and virtues were already hidden - except Love.

For undecided as Love is, he could not decide where to hide. And this should not surprise us, because we all know how difficult it is to hide Love.

Madness: "...ninety five, ninety six, ninety seven..."

Just when Madness got to one hundred, Love jumped into a rose bush where he hid. And Madness turned around and shouted: "I'm coming, I'm coming!"

As Madness turned around, Laziness was the first to be found, because Laziness had no energy to hide. Then he spotted Tenderness in the horn of the moon, Lie at the bottom of the lake and Passion at the centre of the earth.

One by one, Madness found them all - except Love.

Madness was getting desperate, unable to find Love.

Envious of Love, Envy whispered to Madness: "You only need to find Love, and Love is hiding in the rose bush." Madness grabbed a wooden pitchfork and stabbed wildly at the rosebush.

Madness stabbed and stabbed until a heartbreaking cry made him stop.

Love appeared from the rose bush, covering his face with his hands.Between his fingers ran two trickles of blood from his eyes.

Madness, so anxious to find Love, had stabbed out Love's eyes with a pitchfork.

"What have I done! What have I done!" Madness shouted.

"I have left you blind! How can I repair it?" And Love answered: "You cannot repair my eyes. But if you want to do something for me, you can be my guide."

And so it came about that from that day on, Love is blind and is always accompanied by Madness.

Mommies matchmaking session

Gosh, is this for real?

Just cos the PM mentioned it in his speech did not mean people should take it as the holy word.

Frankly, thank goodness, I am not single. And that my mother would not do something like that.

And if she did, I dun think I would forgive her for poking her nose into my private business.

So where's your mommy yesterday afternoon? Matchmaking?

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The Straits Times
8 Sep 2008

Matchmaking meet

They share CVs to find mates for their children at first such event here

By Goh Chin Lian

WITH a picture of her son in her handbag, housewife Wang Lianzhi mingled with some 150 parents at the Speakers' Corner yesterday for a mass matchmaking session.

'My son's 30. He's never had a girlfriend. He's working on his computer all the time and seldom goes out,' explained Mrs Wang, 67. So she decided to play Cupid, distributing his business card to other parents.

It was the first parents' matchmaking session, organised by dating agency Clique Wise which had taken up a suggestion by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. PM Lee had floated the idea of having parents play matchmaker for their children in his National Day Rally speech last month.

He described how thousands of parents in Beijing secretly sought out spouses for their children at such sessions, commonly held in parks, and suggested Singapore parents try it too.

Yesterday, they did. Parents took matters into their own hands, saying their children were too busy for a social life.

Many like Mrs May Jow, 60, came without their children's knowledge. 'I took my daughter's photograph from the drawer without telling her,' she said.

The matchmaking process was simple: Parents exchanged details of their children like age, education and current job, and asked to see a picture of the 'candidate'. Some whipped out passport-sized photographs, others 4R-sized pictures. One parent came with an 8R computer printout of the family posing with the candidate in a graduation gown.

Parents were not only scrutinising the candidate's looks, but also sussing out the candidate's parents to see if they came from similar backgrounds. If all goes well, they exchange phone numbers.

Some parents like Mrs Jow were on the lookout for candidates who matched their children's height and age. 'The age difference should be about three to four years and he has to be at least 1.76m tall,' said Mrs Jow, whose daughter is aged 30 and is 1.68m tall.

Parents hunting for a son-in-law also wanted someone with a higher educational qualification and a stable career.

Said housewife L.H. Heng, 55: 'My daughter has a polytechnic diploma. Her spouse cannot have any lesser than that.'

The session's organiser, Ms Lydia Gan, said the event was held at Speakers' Corner as the older generation was familiar with Hong Lim Park. It was also free.

All Ms Gan had to do was register online with the National Parks Board, since rules were eased to allow outdoor demonstrations at Speakers' Corner from Sept 1.

While the matchmaking session was registered as an exhibition, and not a demonstration, it did draw onlookers like odd job labourer Jeff Tan, 60. He had dropped by after shopping in nearby Chinatown, thinking he would catch a protest in progress.

But there was none. So far, only non-profit group Hearer of Cries has held a demonstration, staging a 10-minute protest against employers who abuse maids.

Mr Tan said: 'I wouldn't come here specially. I work in Changi and I'm living in Tampines. It's too far.'

Love: Lost and Found

Do you believe in love? Most do. But for most people above 35, if they have not found love, or if they fallen out of love, they dun quite believe in love anymore.

Why? Maybe they are used to a life without love. Or maybe love is not that important anymore.

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The New Paper
17 July 2008

LOVE: LOST &FOUND

MORE Singaporeans are falling in love, out of love, and back in love again.
So say statistics released last week, which indicate divorces and remarriages are on the rise.

Why is it so hard to make love last? To find the answer, we visit places that couples may find themselves in the course of their love story.

Our question: What makes a marriage tick?

By Ng Tze Siong

THE MATCHMAKER

The place:

Swivel chairs, fluorescent lighting and pictures of young, foreign brides. A matchmaking agency - where the loveless find love.

Most often-heard phrase:

'Singaporean women are so demanding.'

The love guru:

A matchmaker, Mr Janson Ong, owner of Life Partner Matchmaker, which specialises in Vietnam brides.

(Statistics show a rise in the number of inter-ethnic marriages.)

His thoughts:

'A marriage that fails today would have started failing a few years ago, and when you look at the past 10 years, you'll see that it was not an easy time for couples.

We had 9/11, Sars, a lot of negative equity.

For some people, it's no money, no love. We have to be realistic about this.

So matchmaking is a short-cut. It is for people who know what they are looking for.

My clients are looking for a simple housewife.

Is it true love? It's just switching the order.

Instead of love, then marriage, it's marriage, then love.

By thinking of marriage before courtship, you are forced to think about the future first, then work backwards from there.

You are forced to make things work. It's not that easy to walk out of a marriage.'

THE SOLEMNISER

The place:

A beach, a ballroom, the Registry of Marriages (ROM). A place where marriage vows are exchanged - and the fairytale begins.

Most often-heard phrase:

'I don't know what it (a marriage vow) means.'

The love guru:

A solemniser from ROM, Brother Emmanuel.

His thoughts:

'Of the 900 or so couples I've helped marry over the past 30 years, about one quarter of them come in with wrong expectations.

Most of them do not know what a marriage vow really means, that it is not a vow you make to yourself or to your spouse, but to your god.

It doesn't matter what religion you have, or if you even have one.

A marriage vow is a promise to the supreme being in your heart, whatever name you call it.

A marriage is sacred. It's a vow you should never break.'

THE GYNAECOLOGIST

The place:

Syringes, latex gloves and a doctor's white coat. A gynaecologist's clinic - where love becomes complete.

Most often-heard phrase:

'Is my baby normal?'

The love guru:

A gynaecologist, Dr Cathryn Chan.

Her thoughts:

'The birth of a baby is a critical time in a relationship.

Babies are 'romance intruders' in certain ways. Caring for them may be an anti-climax after the romance.

To keep their love going strong, couples should not focus all their energy on the baby. They must remember to make time for each other.

But sometimes, the child keeps a couple together only because of the responsibility.

So when the child is all grown up, the couple suddenly find themselves having grown apart.

This is why in the future, we may see more and more older couples with grown-up children divorcing.'

THE LAWYERS

The place:

A receptionist, a conference room, a bird's eye view from high up in the Central Business District. A lawyer's office - where the fairy tale ends.

Most often-heard phrase:

'What happened to the wife/husband I knew?'

The love gurus:

Lawyers Stuart Palmer and Ahmad Nizam Abbas from the matrimonial department of Straits Law.

Their thoughts:

Mr Ahmad: 'The fact that there were fewer divorces in the past does not mean there were happier marriages.

Women were less independent then. Divorce was a bigger taboo.'

Mr Palmer: 'Times have changed. And the pressures of modern life can lead to a breakdown in communication.'

Mr Ahmad: 'That may not seem like a problem when a couple first gets together.

They have a meeting of minds, then they get married.

The first year of a marriage... that is critical. If they can survive it, they are good for another five or six years.

These will be busy years, when you have your children, buy a car, or buy a flat.

During this time, the couple may gradually grow in different ways.

But they will only realise this later, when things settle down and boredom sets in.

Then, by the time they come to see us, they say, 'What happened to the wife/husband I knew?'

Mr Palmer: 'Couples must remember - the communication begins before a marriage, not after.'

THE FUNERAL DIRECTOR

The place:

An air-conditioned office in a Toa Payoh industrial park, opposite a welder's workshop. A funeral parlour, where the love story ends the way it should - 'till death do we part'.

Most often-heard phrase:

'I see my wife/husband in my children.'

The love guru:

A funeral director, Victor Hoo from Singapore Funeral Services

His thoughts:

'I come in at the end of a beautiful love story and my role is to fill in the emptiness - with memories of their love.

But we do see the good, the bad and the ugly?

People say 'till death do us part'.

But what they don't say is, is it a sad parting or a happy parting?

Sometimes, the spouse is so relieved the husband or wife is gone.

But I can tell whether a couple's love is true, just by looking.

And it's not from the crying.

It's how much attention they pay to the details of the funeral - the colour of this, the position of that...

It's like they are loving the person as if he or she is still there.

And this is what true love is: When you can still love someone without his or her physical presence.