Time Capsule: Faith of the Heart

Are U Sure Its LOVE? 
For all you people who say, "I love you" when you have no clue…. what exactly is love? Something to ponder upon…
 
Your palms are sweaty, your heart racing and your voice caught within your chest?
-It isn’t love, it’s LIKE.

You can’t keep your eyes or hands off of her, am I right?
-It isn’t love, it’s LUST.

Are you proud, and eager to show her off?
-It isn’t love, it’s LUCK.

Do you want her because you know she’s there?
-It isn’t love, it’s LONELINESS.

Are you with her because it’s what everyone wants?
-It isn’t love, it?s LOYALTY.

Are you with her because she kissed you, or held your hand?
-It isn’t love, it’s LOW CONFIDENCE.

Do you stay after her confessions of love, because you don’t want to hurt her?
-It isn’t love, it’s PITY.

Do you belong to her because the sight of her makes your heart skip a beat?
-It isn’t love, it’s INFATUATION.

Do you pardon her faults because you care about her?
-It isn’t love, it’s FRIENDSHIP.

Do you tell her every day she is the only one you think of?
-It isn’t love, it’s a LIE.

Are you willing to give up all of your favorite things for her sake?
-It isn’t love, it’s CHARITY.

Does your heart ache and break when she’s sad?
-Then it’s LOVE.

Do you cry, knowing she is in pain, even when she’s strong?
-Then it’s LOVE.

Do her eyes see your true heart, and touch your soul so deeply it hurts?
-Then it’s LOVE.

Do you stay because a blinding, incomprehensible mix of pain and relation pulls you close and holds you to her?
-Then it’s LOVE.

Do you accept her faults because it’s a part of who she is?
-Then it’s LOVE.

Are you attracted to others, but stay with her faithfully without regret?
-Then it’s LOVE.

Would you give her your heart, your life, your death?
-Then it’s LOVE.

Now, if love is painful, and tortures us so, why do we love?

Why is it all we search for in life?

This pain, this agony?

Why is it all we long for?

This torture, this powerful death of oneself?

Why?

The answer is so simple cause it’s…LOVE. It is such an addictive thing that even people who do not have it wish to experience it and share it with others as well.

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past…

Love hurts our feeling, but it’s also the reason our soul heal.

Thanks to Cynthia for sharing and to the original author, many thanks for sharing your wisdom with us. Hope you don’t mind me editting it abit.

  Guess I have to finish off Gunung Irau before I can proceed to the juicy Gunung Tahan, that you viewers like to read so much about.

Gunung Irau is our second and last training session before we go for our hike at Tahan. I have to admit, at the time I thought it as insuffiecient.

Gunung Irau is located at Cameron Highlands. I believe, if you have seen our local Malaysian Movie of Puteri Gunung Ledang, you would see a scene or two from Gunung Irau’s area. We had to drive to Kampung Raja and then up into some tea plantation before we can start our hike.

  Most of the way up Gunung Irau, we could see lots of Moss and for the first Leg a lot of tourist also. As we went deeper, the moss and fauna seem to be healthier. There was also lots of mist, so the photos you see might be a bit blurry.

The second leg we encountered was mostly flat land. When I say flat I mean hill flat as in, we have to go up and down slopes, but still we remained at the same altitude most of the time.

The third leg, we had to climb up hill. I am guessing its around 60 degrees. You can see how steep it is in the pic. We had to go through lots of tree roots to get to the top. Can’t really remember but I think I fell once at least. If you think that is scary, guess what happened when we went down hill, it rained. That made it more slippery. And guess what one of my friends said when it started to rain, she said "wah, this is nice, we have been wishing it to rain since the last time… this is so adventurous". Here we are fearing for dear life and she is enjoying our misfortune. She is indeed incredible and not to mention, one of the kind.

   The last leg. We reached the summit. Along the way, we saw shrinking fauna like this Monkey’s Cup. Quite misty up there also. You know, when we reached the top it was a pityful sight. The sign of Gunung Irau was in a bad shape and thrash everywhere. Put me in jail if the government wants, but Malaysians should really take care of their wonders more. A sight that makes the eyes sore.

You know what is really suckie about being single and lonely, its that everytime you think you got a fighting chance to start a companionship with someone, your hopes are dashed at the end. But once upon a blue moon, as they often say, you find someone that accepts you. All those lonely people in the world take heart, have faith.

Just wanted to tell you that today (which was actually yesterday, Saturday) is a wonderful, beautiful day. I hiked up Bukit Jambul and the skies were so so clear. Penang skies has always been plagued by smog, but today… no smog in sight. I could see Penang Bridge in all its glories and if I am mistaken even Bukit Mertajam so so far away. If you have not been out for sometime, step outside once in awhile after the rain and look at the clear blue skies and breath the clean, bet ya, it will lighten up yer day. 

When my friend, Joan came by to see at Church on the 17th of April, she made me, as my friend Alan Foo would love to say "An offer you can’t refuse". Of course this punch line, you would normally relate it to the Godfather, but Alan does it much better.

Anyway, she had just registered for this hiking trip to Gunung Tahan. Its the tallest mountain in Pennisula Malaysia. For safety reasons, she pulled me into the loop as well. The offer was so tempting. It had always been my dream to climb mountains. Something about, being what you can be and rising to the challenge. I know that if I take this offer, there were risks involved, I might not be able to come back safe and sound. But if I take this offer, it would be one of the high lights of my life. Something that I would recall back in my old age, and saying "Yeah, those were the times"

So, I got back home, found out that Joan had already found a hiking partner for me. An old Pal of mine, from college years. Name’s Roland. Okay, no probs, Roland seem to be a tough guy, had great sense of humour. So we sent some emails to each other. Got each other prepared for the hike. Coordinated equitment, food supplies and training hikes and techniques.

The first of this training hikes was the hike to Western Hill on the 21st of April. It was the longest hiking trail in Penang. Strecthing from Teluk Bahang in the North of the Island to Western Hill (part of Penang Hill) in the midsection. It took us from 8am to 4pm to reach the train station in Penang Hill around 10 km uphill. We had some load on which slowed us down significantly, mine was around 9 kg, most of it was contributed by the 4 big water bottle I bought along. In case, the weight was too tough for me, then I could release some of the water, to lighten my load. Of course, the technique I used to train up my leg musscle paid off, no cramps at all. The training technique: everyday I wore sand bags to my feet. Each weighed 2 kg.

The next training session would be to Gunung Irau, in the Camerons but that would be another story.