a weekend to remember...

hearing the news of united tumbling out of the fa cup was bad. hearing that my own personal hero sufferred a horrific injury makes it even worse. the horrifying nature of the injury just makes my blood curdle, and even losing the match doesn't seem so bad. it was a totally innocuous tackle that resulted in a total freak of an injury. imagine your leg folding under your own weight as you're sliding in to block a shot.

however, as a testament to why i look up to this man, alan smith never screamed. he never wavered. he just tried to stand up, and when he couldn't, called for medical attention. he just grit his teeth and left the field on a stretcher. this is the tenacity i respect smithy for, and his willingness to shed his own blood for the cause. it speaks volumes when even the liverpool fans applauded him as he was stretchered off. even after the his operation, he's only talking about getting well and playing again. get well soon smudger. your never-say-die commitment and courage will be sorely missed.

the other thing i want to note about this weekend is the fact that i spent it at the CHOICE retreat house in jurong for a CHOICE weekend. at this point of time, i'm rather weary of retreats. it's was fun and all in jc, but i guess i'm slowly growing out of them. obviously, i wasn't hyped up to attend some retreat that i wasn't dying to attend.

how wrong i was. while i did know CHOICE was centred upon the relationships that we hold dear to our hearts, i didn't give the issue much thought. i mean, stuff at home isn't so bad, i'm pretty alright with my friends and i don't have a significant other to worry about at the moment. what could they teach me that i didn't know?

well, they call CHOICE a bus stop experience. normally when you come to a bus stop, you inevitably wait for the bus. during this time, you think. that's what CHOICE is all about: you take the time out to think about the things that are really important to you before you catch the bus of life and start moving again...

it's not so much of learning new things. it's all commonsensical, yet stuff we don't put into practice often enough. for me, it was a reinforcement of ideas that i've already had, and the challenge to put them into good use. the sharings were heartfelt and very touching, and it's paradigm shift as well as a challenge: to make the more loving choice in all that we say and do.