欣。雨。: 無常

I can't read such news on the papers.

Before reading the news, just looking at the photos is enough to send me into tears.

I had to turn my head away when the Husband was showing me Youtube videos of the disasters, before I made an embarrassment of myself.

He can't quite understand why I cry so easily at such scenes. Men... -__-

Credits: http://blog.omy.sg/shinmin/

By the time I'm done reading, the newspaper would have quite a number of 'tear puddle spots'

Much to the Husband's dismay.

He had not had the chance to read the news yet.

I had experienced earthquakes in both Japan & Taiwan.

But the most serious case was in a Taipei hotel.

I woke up to the sound of the hangers rattling violently in the wardrobe, the desk lamp threatening to fall off the edge and I felt I was sitting in a roller coaster.

I couldn't determine the horizon line. Everything was topsy turvy.

It felt so unreal.

It was winter and my mind was whizzing through whether to call other colleagues, what coat I should grab, and my loved ones.

The earth-shaking experience lasted 15 minutes.

I didn't call anyone.

Didn't run to the lobby in my PJs.

Didn't know quite what to do but fell back asleep with a pounding heart, all curled up and feeling very out-of-the-world.

Call me silly but ever since such experiences, I never go to sleep without wearing my 護牌.

In fact, the only time I am without it will be when I am taking my shower.

Did you know that being an airline crew is considered a highly dangerous job?

I didn't know that either till my insurance agent told me.

At a time when 911, Sars and terrorist attacks were happening during my flying days, I don't know when it might be my turn to go.

At the waiting room/on the coach before every flight, I would call my Husband.

I would get angry & upset if he didn't answer my call, leave a just-as-upset voice mail and hope he would get to hear it soon.

It is a must that I call him before I fly off everytime, be it from Singapore or overseas.

I don't know if that might be my last call.

And, I'm not the only one who has such a practice.

Sometimes I feel I should call my mum, but relations between my mum & I then were sorta strained.

Calling my dad seemed weird too. -__-

Some numbers on the Japan earthquake, from CNN and ABC:

8: Number of feet the coast of Japan moved eastward.
4: Number of inches the Earth's axis shifted.
160: Number of aftershocks in the first 24 hours, most of them with a magnitude of at least 5.0.
59 feet: How much tectonic plates slipped.
6 miles (9.7km) : How far inland some of the tsunami waves reached.

I'm still trying to believe that an earthquake actually happened in NZ Christchurch.
I've been there countless times and it has always been so peaceful & scenic.
Oh gosh.
It must be so horrible & terrifying to have your life terminated so abruptly & violently.
They didn't even get to make their last call to anyone.
So much, left unsaid.
Startling to realise that we are so incapacitated in the eyes of Mother Nature.

Credits: Reuters

In 2007, when the Husband's grandmother & his family dog of 10 years passed away within days of each other, his family printed (助印) & distributed 500 pieces of CDs, with Buddhist songs in them.
They dedicated the merits of the CD printing & distribution to the grandmother's & the dog's safe ascension to the Pureland.
I kept some of the CDs and actively aka 'thick-skin-ly' distributed them to like-minded people that I met, so that full merits （功德圓滿） can be accumulated for the deceased.

I wish I can do something like that for the victims. But I don't have the financial strength. =(
So here's a feeble attempt to share this mantra song on this little space of mine:

This is one of the beautiful songs inside the CD. It is my personal favourite of all the versions that I have heard.
More surprisingly, the owner of such a sweet voice is a Singaporean, who had sung many other Buddhist songs.
Many who have heard it like it.
I hope you like it enough to hear it through.
If you are a Buddhist like me, I hope you like it even more enough and understand the significance behind it to sing/chant the mantra in the song for the victims, dedicating the merits to them.