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Past 1/20/2010 Australia: Land of Contrast

1/27/2010 Tasmania: Animation, Self Gratification and Appreciation

Malaysia:
Life Flashes Before Your Eyes Indeed
By: Dustin J. Pari
2009

This would only be the first of many a harrowing ride throughout my visit to Malaysia.
Though the variables always changed: car model, drivers, different routes and destinations, there was one constant- the inescapable feeling that death was just one short screech of the brakes away. Thus concluding in a very scientific manner, that riding in Malaysia is always akin to the much-acclaimed, children’s classic “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” (or The Wind in The Willows- depending on where you spent your childhood and how far the Disney influence had spread at that time), except that in Malaysia, you get to be Mr.Toad’s passenger, whether you like it or not, as he rips through life with reckless abandon, cutting off motorists and thinking only of himself. Beep Beep ya’ bastards!

Surprisingly I never grew accustom to this experience and thus had taken mental refuge by staring out my side window, where at least I couldn’t see what was almost hitting us, well, not most of the time anyhow.

In these moments of visual avoidance I took in some very picturesque hillsides and a few tributes to the urban plight of the city folk. As palm trees, monkeys and beat up Toyota’s zoomed pass my eyes, I could not help but think of how the Malaysian thrill ride is very reminiscent of life in general.

We are all too often rushing past some of the most wonderful things life has to offer, eager to get to our destination. Always focused on tomorrow, avoiding the obstacles in our path by the skin of our teeth, and yet, through all of this, we are missing the beauty of today; the reality of the present and the moments that we will never get back.

Life is a novel that should be enjoyed and read at a leisurely pace while you lay out in the sunshine, warming your skin, your heart and your soul. When we are approaching the end of the book we should cling painstakingly to every page, absorbing the fullness of every word, savoring every punctuation mark and even the occasional spelling error.

We should never rush to the last page to see how it all turns out- for no matter how amazing and mysterious the closing pages of our life may be, it will all mean nothing if we truly did not absorb ourselves in the story.