Monday, February 07, 2005

What is Love?

Love is that special feeling, Love is patience, Love is giving, Love is generosity, Love IS a million things that we conjure up, experience and learn from the experts. I am no expert in love. And it certainly doesn't require one to know that the simple four-letter word l.o.v.e. is not that simple after all. It is powerful, and it empowers.

Today, the Sports section of the Straits Times covered a story of a local sports hero - 36 year-old Koh Wei Meng of the water polo team. He retired in 1999 after his 7th SEA Games gold medal. His wife is 30 years old. An average-joe sort of couple they are not. He is suffering from a neurological disorder which he will gradually lose control of his muscles - Amyotrophic Lateral Scelorisis (ALS); the same disease that inflicted Stephen Hawkins since he was 21. Wei Meng has been losing control of his hands since 2003 and his frail-looking wife of mere 30 needs to help with his daily routine. It is believed that most victims of this disease tend to succumb to it after about 3 to 5 years.

Who would have imagined, ever, that a man so fit, so much achieved in the sporting arena, one of Singapore's sporting heroes, would one day, this young, lose his ability to carry out the basic tasks that we, very often, take for granted. And his wife, even younger, looking much older, bearing the burden of watching the love of her life degenerate every day and having to become his hands and legs.

As for me, do I know if I love him? Well, when the thought of all the sacrifices I'd have to make and the idea of taking care of my man, old, ailing and perhaps, plagued with illness, do not make me shudder or revolt me, yet there is the urge to stay strong for him and be happy. I will know. He is The One, my man.

9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Read this article which you posted weeks back. Just wanted to comment that it's beautifully written..

And thanks for link to Mr. Brown's web site

3:42 am  
Blogger Cin said...

ah...anonymous friend again. :) Thanks for your compliment. I surprise myself occasionally but mostly, I think they are just mediocre expressions of myself.

Hope you enjoy Mr Brown's as much as I do. Cheers.

4:02 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mediocre they're not. They're outbursts of ardent compassion for life. Traits of a piscean ;-) Keep up the good work

11:55 pm  
Blogger Cin said...

Hello again "Anonymous"! :) You know, if you stop leaving comments anymore to my blogs, I just may suffer from withdrawals...heh.

Thank you for your encouragement, really. It is heartwarming to know that I have someone out there, seemingly ardent, who'd read my blogs regularly. Apart from offering a glimpse and insight into my thoughts, I also hope I can move people, including my friends and family, in some way or the other.

You are now officially my "Mystery Friend" aka MF. So, MF, do I know you? :)

12:23 am  
Blogger RaTz said...

nope.

thanx for the nick, but i'd prefer my own..

12:45 am  
Blogger Cin said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

12:50 am  
Blogger Cin said...

Oh Ratz *no pun intended*, there is a stain in my comment spot now. Deleted my own comment by mistake and now, the stain says "This post has been removed by the author."

Oh noooh...the anal me just wants it removed entirely! Help! Anyone?

1:03 am  
Blogger RaTz said...

It's not necessarily a stain.. it's the tiny nicks of imperfection that makes us human after all.

2:02 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for the mention. I am Wei Meng's wife.... the old 30 year old wife then.... Wei Meng has gone to heaven on Jan 9. The article on his death is on ST interactive if you are subscribed to it http://straitstimes.asiaone.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.b0c342bf39ac6a158ace2810a06310a0/?vgnextfmt=vgnartid:f1cfde1b03d00110VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD&vgnextoid=35b0758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD

I have lost the love of my life, my soulmate....

1:58 pm  

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