...and then there are those...

3X says "While we wait anxiously for Hari Raya, and thinking how we would celebrate with our close family and friends, anticipating laughter and joy, happiness and celebration.... there are those...

A few months ago, one of my close friend, Zul, same age as me passed away after battling with his throat cancer (ironically he never smoked in his life). My last conversation I had with him, was on the phone, and his voice was barely recognizable, and he ask me how I am, and asks for forgiveness. I knew he was struggling with the disease, and I thought I would still have time to visit him. I couldn't make it.... He leave behind his wife and a son of primary six.

A Makcik, at one of the stall in my college, was crying one day while cooking, earlier this year. She was clearly distraught and sad, as her daughter-in-law died of stomache cancer, diagnosed as soon as she gave birth to her only daughter. Makcik was sad for her menantu, but she was crying thinking about her son, who kept staring at his wife's clothes, eversince his wife's demise.

In our neighborhood, there's a mother and 3 children, who earn their living, collecting tin cans and cardboard boxes. She would bring them everywhere, and even sat at the void deck till midnight, folding boxes they had collected throughout the day. Eventually, the residents here reported them to Children's welfare services, and her 3 children was taken into custody. Nowadays, we see her alone roaming, still collecting tin cans.

Then there are those, who lost their father to the gallows, for a crime he had committed. Their mother, who is now the soul breadwinner, is even thinking of voluntarily surrendering them to the children's welfare, as she has obviously, was at a lost on how to take care of them. But as my boy wrote in his diary, we love them too, and we constantly on the look out for them.

So as we think and worry about what new clothes to buy for ourselves and our children, what colour to paint our house, and what kueh to buy and put on our table... there are those who have to make do with what they have left in their family.

So let's pray for their happiness during this holy month, and hope they, especially the children, will still be able to smile on that day.

"Ya Allah, ya tuhan ku, Kami bershukur atas perlindungan daripada mu dan kami bershukur atas pemberian mu dan kesihatan yang kau berikan kepada kami.

Lindungi mereka, terutama kanak-kanak yang sudah kehilangan atau terpisah dari ibu atau bapa mereka. Kami memohon agar mereka bahagia, sebagaimana kamu telah berikan kami nikmat hidup berkeluarga kepada kami. Berikan mereka kekuatan menghadapi dugaan dan ujian daripada mu.

Ya Allah, tuhan segala alam, sesungguh-nya Kau yang memberi dan Kau mengambil balik. Amin"