Freedom to Pursue Happiness

I saw this quote in one of the walls in Royal Museum of Scotland and thought that it was good. It is written:-

"For we fight not for glory, nor riches, nor honour, but for freedom alone, which no good man gives up except with his life."

No, no, no, I am not advocating wars. To me, freedom is not restricted to the kind of freedom deemed by the Scottish heroes like William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. While I saw this, what sprang to my mind was the freedom to pursue happiness, first conceived by Thomas Jefferson.

My Life in Turkmenistan (2006-2008)

I spent most of my time in Turkmenistan from year 2006 to 2008. Now that I have left the country for good, I realized that I've not written a single bit about my life in this country. So I decided to start a series here in my blog before my memory about this country faded away.

What? Where? Why? When? How?

I Have a Dream

About a month ago, somehow I heard the record of Martin Luther King's speech in 1963 called "I have a dream". It is a truly exceptional and inspirational speech. I later came to know that it is a popular speech and can't help but wondering how on earth could I miss it for the pass 25 years.

Since then I've made one of mine. It is very similar to his but much shorter and most importantly it is not dedicated to the people in the U.S but to the people in my beloved country, Malaysia. Now that I have my own blog I decided to write them down before the thoughts vanish into the stream of time.

Here is mine:

好了

最近看了《红楼梦》，虽然有很多不懂的地方，可是有一首比较白话的诗却一直萦绕在我的脑海里。那首诗叫 《好了歌》。

世人都晓神仙好，唯有功名忘不了；
古今将相在何方？荒冢一堆草没了；
世人都晓神仙好，只有金银忘不了；
终朝只恨聚无多，及到用时眼闭了；
世人都晓神仙好，只有娇妻忘不了；
君生日日说恩情，君死又随人去了；
世人都晓神仙好，只有儿孙忘不了；
痴心父母古来多，孝顺儿孙谁见了。

真是好一个《好了歌》。这诗看下去好像是对的，可是深思后又好像有点不对。

人活着无欲无求就是神仙吗？神仙又能当多久呢？没有钱和权不要紧，可是连情都没有了，跟动物应该没多大分别吧！

无欲无求应该就是没目标。一个没有目标的生命很悲惨吧？就好像一个跑手不知道自己的目标不停往前跑。看不到明天的生命是灰色的吧？我想如果真的有神仙，当神仙应该也不是什么趣事。

所以我决定当自己－－杨美盈。就算再不完美也要好好做人，绝对不做神仙。因为当人比较快乐。

我不想刻意追求名和利，可是我有我的梦想。我只想为着自己的在心中的那个梦想奔跑，这样我才能每天快乐的起床。快乐的起床是那么美好的一回事。

我不想当别人期盼的那个我，不想在乎别人的眼光，我只想好好的走我人生的旅途，希望在我短暂的人生里，能成为别人的祝福。有人说，人生的长短你不能决定，可是它的内容你绝对可以。不是吗？