Siong Weekend

Last weekend I had a busy weekend. Last Sat I had a long MYMCA meeting discussing on many issues that were needed to be settled. Initially, I intended to ask MYMCA for more information on PM Lee Dialogue that would be held in September this year but given too many items for discussion, I decided against to bring it up. We also brought up on whether we want to invite Nick Vicinic, a disabled motivator speaker with no limbs as he is planning to come to Singapore as part of the world tour to give his insight on his faith in Christanity and his personal experience on how he overcame his obstacles. So, it was agreed that I would send an email to Nick to find out when he would be coming to Singapore and MYMCA would support it. It is a good thing to invite him to share his personal experiences with Singaporeans as many of us do not know how fortunate we are as compared with Nick.

Last Sunday, I had to wake up at wee hours and had to rush down to Kovan to participate in 10km Mizuno Run. I did not take any breakfast and wore a red cap cos I did not want people to see my messy hair. So as I was running after 5km, I suddenly had a dizzy spell and felt like I was going to faint any time. I think I should grab some food to nourish my body with necessary energy and should not make my cap too tight. So, I slowed down and walked for a certain distance before I picked up my speed to complete running.

Then I went home to shower before rushing off to Kallang River for my dragon boat training. I was there early around 1:30pm and I saw a group of 4 blind rowers who would be joining us for training. As usual, I would go and say hi to them without expecting them to be introduced to us. I asked their names and how long they had been training with the dragon boat. Amazingly, they were very friendly and had no airs with them. They all were working as masseurs for 2 years and it is good thing that they had stable jobs to earn their living. Being blind in this society is no real easy feat but we should learn to empathize with them. All along, I thought that as they are blind, it would mean that they would not see anything at all. I was proven wrong that not all blinds are totally blind. They may have residual vision that would enable them to see certain things. So, majority of them are not totally blind and they would be able to walk around with their residual vision. As everyone had arrived including few new comers, we got on into the boat first while each of the blind rowers would get onto the boat by himself. Amazing! It is so difficult for him to get onto the boat since the boat could be very rocky and he could lose balance. Finally all the 4 blind rowers settled down in front and we started our training. Throughtout the training, we had no problems in coordinating with them. Amazing! It definitely serves as a good level of understanding for all of us; no one is perfect and yet one could find the way to get around his handicaps rather than lamenting over handicap or self-blaming himself.