The biggest mistake ever

Mistakes are common enough phenomena. It's all part and parcel of being human i.e. the process of making an ass out of oneself. But have anyone ever thought about making mistakes by omission? Paradoxical eh... but highly viable as a category of mistakes by itself.

"Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted."
Aldous Huxley

I don't believe most are evil or inhuman but rather, through my frequent contacts and conversations with those fallen by the wayside, most people belong to the category above, AKA: lazy bums. Quite recently, I did that. Despite the sincerest of intentions, I took the easy way out and took it for granted.

No garden ever self maintained; the gardener must constantly prune, weed and water the patch. Leave it alone for even 3 days, voila, weeds sprouts from every conceivable corner. Of course, it's not easy. In fact, it's time consuming, tedious and unfortunately necessary. Some might argue that it is fortunately necessary, I would agree too.

My colleague complained about the way his children treated him. Instead of asking him what happened, my boss and I asked him how did he treat them when he was younger. Did he talk with them, showed them concern, love them as they were? In my usual pointed way, I asked him: "Did you ever talk with them, or, did you talk to them?" There is a difference.

Have you made the difference today? Go do it now. Bring your family out, listen to your husband's complaints, do the dishes for your wife automatically, pet your cat, play monopoly with the kids, etc. Do something, and stamp out regrets taking root within you.

Martial Arts for you?

Normally, I don't reveal that I do Chinese Martial Arts such as Taiji and Xingyi. Not that I'm shy or reluctant to share but this kinda falls into the question category where there are no simple answers. Most are not interested to know anyway, why bother? Furthermore when they start probing into my reasons for doing MAs, I know some have kind intentions which is why the intention to get them to bugger off diminishes tremendously. Usually.

The usual repertoire of comments, however well intentioned, makes me cringe. The depth of their understanding is as superficial as the veneer of any used teak furniture.

"Playing tennis is as good as doing MAs." Oh really? I suppose a good forearm could smash the muggler's nose in just as well.

"Martial Arts are very violent! and violent people learn them to beat others up." Go look at parliament sessions of Taiwan. Imagine that one of them would whip up some Karate or any snazzy Kungfu moves and beat the shit out of all of them. Think of all the ratings! People would pay to see these uncensored parliament sparrings. But these same people think that kickboxing matches are violent. Duh! This point is moot.

"Why do MAs?" "Why not play tennis?" ehm... I'm interested to improve myself and through MAs, I learn more about our physiology, emotions and psyche. "Huh? What?" ... Never mind... see what I mean.

Recently, developments at work and pursuing interests have left me with scarce time to practice. While it's a shame, this has also made me realise I have left a treasure trove behind but it's still within reach.