Moments

We exist in space and time, stringing each moment to become a whole, to make a life.

Some moments are more memorable than others, but all count.

The learning years, the earning years and the “burning” years.

This is a moment I throw in the towel. Can’t compete for online attention. We’ve got Twitter and Instagram, shopping sites and gaming sites. All AI-assisted.

Besides, I don’t enjoy seeing my readers got “crammed in” with toe-nail and fungus ads etc.. (unless I pay for Premium package just to have that privilege of working for free).

Me and artificial intelligence don’t get along on this note.

As we approach 2020, I just want to thank friends and co-workers who at one moment or another, put up with my silly feed.

2019 has been a strange year. There were moments worth-remembering (went to Phu Quoc Island alone) or felt existential-lonely while surrounded by my people – then felt the same back States (like now, as we part digitally).

Perhaps the mark on the calendar e.g. year 2020 etc… is for admin (tax) purposes. We. on the other hand, live from one moment to the next, at times, planned, but most of the time, unplanned.

Like a long lost friend, time just went away, only to re-appear deja vu.

I felt like I have seen it all: the rise and fall of XYZ, the rush to judgment and subsequent regrets e.g. 2/3 of veterans now claimed that we shouldn’t have been involved in Iraq.

Some mistakes are more costly and deadly than others; just like some moments are more worth-counting than others.

This morning, it was a bit foggy outside. On my way to the gym, I told myself to watch my speed. Sure enough, at the Interstate intersection, there was an accident.

Moments.

Though minuscule, moments and choices= our life. My early life wasn’t that memorable (first 4 years), except for a succession of housekeepers (can’t keep them). So I learned to tune out and create my internal dialogue: I don’t need you (although the opposite is true). Self-retreat.

Call it survival mechanism. But these early moments shaped my orientation and outlook (not to say, my first 19 years were spent on one street: Ban Co).

Like a concert that has both performer(s) and audience, our lives have us and people. It’s been quite an honor to interact with you digitally. It’s been a long way from Gutenberg Press to WordPress, from “Salvation by faith alone” to post-truth and post-everything world.

I wish you God’s speed in 2020, a year with new promises and surprising moments. As I experiment with other- than- these- silly blogs to communicate, I want to remind you that 16-year-old Greta went from holding a lone poster (on her 1st Friday for Future) to the front page of TIME.

Each moment, each man/woman/child, counts. Together they make for life itself.

So cherish those moments, embrace those children, and be brave like Greta.