'Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.'

I'll leave you with this story to ponder on this last day of the holy month of Ramadan;

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: 'I am blind, please help.' There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man walked by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, 'Were you the one who changed my sign this morning ? What did you write?'

The man said, 'I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way..'

What he had written was: 'Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.'

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.

Invite others towards good with wisdom. Live life with no excuse and love with no regrets. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile. Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear.

Great men say, 'Life has to be an incessant process of repair and reconstruction, of discarding evil and developing goodness…. In the journey of life, if you want to travel without fear, you must have the ticket of a good conscience.'

The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling…

And even more beautiful is, knowing that you are the reason behind it !!!

Let us then give thanks in this joyous season of festivities, stop and think of all those who have not had that same reason to smile.....who have not had a fair trial.....who have not had the pleasure to hold their near and dear ones in their arms....or watch them grow. I know most muslims visit the graves of their dearly departed on the 2nd. day of Shawal too, but this year if you are in the northern states of the peninsula, you could join the many people from Penang and Taiping, who will be assembling at the entrance of the Kamunting Detention Camp at 11 am. (2nd. October ) to light a candle for those who know it is a beautiful day for you and me outside but cannot see an end or reason for their detention without trial.....Will you do that for them....and for yourself and your childrens' future?

Wishing all my muslim brothers and sisters a blessed Edilfitri..........Maaf, Zahir & Batin !

Godbless !