North Korea Executes 80



 
Above: Kim Jong Un inspects North Korea troops in this government photo
 

North Korea had reportedly publicly executed as many as 80 people – some for infractions as minor as watching South Korean movies or possessing a Bible – in the first known mass executions in the Kim Jong-un regime, according to Korea’s Joongang Daily News. 

A UPI report said that people were executed in Wonsan, Chongjin, Sariwon and Pyongsong but Pyongyang was spared. Fox News suggested that these simultaneous executions across the country – on November 03, 2013 – indicated an extreme measure by Kim Jong Un’s regime to quell public unrest. The common theme of the persecution was crimes related to South Korea or corruption of public morals. 

Image credit: http://misguidedchildren.com/foreign-affairs/2013/11/80-people-executed-in-north-korea/6530

I wonder if HELP’s Paul Chan will now withdraw the honorary doctorate in economics he gave to the North Korean Supreme Leader? I suppose not. Maybe he can still justify the award, that the executions make economic sense because there will be eighty less mouths to feed? 

After all, there has been persistent reports of food scarcities in the country and millions of its citizens live near starvation. The World Food Program is claiming that "one in every three children remains chronically malnourished". 

I was in KL’s Jalan Genting Klang yesterday for the One World Toastmasters meeting. I had a good time and not only because two of the three speeches were humorous – one talked about condoms and the other about sex. I also admire members’ gung-ho heroics at this meeting – they were not shy to learn and they were not afraid to have fun! I loved the energy here and because they start and end on time, I am awarding this meeting a score of an 8 over 10.

Still on North Korea

HELP University's granting of an honorary doctorate to Kim Jong Un unfolded against a backdrop of news that relate to North Korean defections. The world is familiar with hearing harrowing tales of adversity, suffering and hardship endured by ordinary North Koreans and some were lucky to be able to make their escape from the country.  

Here is just one personal tale of survival and hope and which I happened to also locate today:

 

What message is HELP's Paul Chan giving to this bullying overlord of oppressision and tyranny?

I was in Petaling Jaya to be the General Evaluator at the IEM Toastmasters meeting on Thursday. I was there at the invitation of club president, Alex Lu and this was my sixth visit to the Toastmasters club this calendar year. 

A decent meeting overall although one or two members were taking on multiple meeting roles. I would give this meeting a 6 upon 10. 

 

On Saturday, Luis Suarez was in brilliant form in this one-sided EPL match between Liverpool and West Brom where the Reds earned an easy 4-1 win. 

He fired Liverpool in front on 11 minutes, after a delightful run that tore the West Brom defense to shreds. He then added a second six minutes later, heading powerfully beyond goalie Boaz Myhill, and completed his hat-trick with a glancing header in the fifty-fifth minute from a Steven Gerrard free-kick.

 

The Baggies could only offer feeble resistance. Still, they managed to score a goal with a controversially awarded penalty (66) but Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge extinguished any hopes of a comeback with a wonderful 20-yard chip in the seventy-seventh minute to wrap up the game for Liverpool.

The Reds continue to pile the pressure on Arsenal at the top of the EPL table. And Suarez is, match by match, already confirming his place in the Liverpool Hall of Fame!

Sunway UC Visit

This afternoon, my SNHU students arranged a visit to the School of Hospitality, Tourism & Leisure Management at Sunway University College and we dropped in at their fine dining restaurant. Great place, great food, great ambience! These photos proved that we had a great time!

Yesterday, HELP's Dr. Paul Chan was sharing something that is so important in today’s competitive landscape – he was making an observation on this decisive issue of “under-performance” – and he said “What matters are quality people who are in charge of the right positions, and deliver results. Give it a thought (before you do it: stop pointing fingers)”. Certainly, gems of wisdom from a distinguished and respected icon! As a Management lecturer, I too wonder whether organizations recognize quality people when they are there, or if they are recognized only after they have fled? Hmmm, something to ponder about!

Indecent Proposal

Nope, I have not forgotten about our charity initiative HELP for Haiti. Never fear! – we are almost at the tail-end of this campaign, which involves surrendering the monies to UNICEF Malaysia. As you will recall, we had previously raised RM8,102. The good news is that Dr. Paul Chan and Mrs. Chan had generously topped up this amount by RM4,000 – bringing the total to RM12,102! We are indeed grateful to this benevolent couple for their support! I will keep everyone updated.
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I read this intelligent article in The Malaysian Insider (Webpage http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/breakingviews/article/umnos-indecent-proposal-a-facade-to-cling-on-to-power-penyair-purba, posted July 19, 2010) and I was suitably impressed. The article's honesty came from a Malay lawyer writing under the pseudonym Penyair Purba – who was referring to UMNO (again) courting and wooing PAS – in the hope of forging so-called Malay unity:

“…how people… forget what Umno did to PAS when it lost Kelantan? It established a JPP (federal agency) and distributed money among its cronies. What about oil royalty? When it lost Terengganu, it became wang ihsan. And UMNO claimed Tok Guru as a vengeful person. Oh my, you rob a man and then you want to befriend him. When he refused and asked his money back, you say that he is full of vengeance. Now the victim is blamed!"

And “Oh yeah, I heard grumbling! UMNO did this, UMNO did that. UMNO built universities, UMNO gave scholarships. But do we realize that whose money was used to do just all the above? Mahathir spent his own million to build PLUS expressways and the KLCC? Did Najib spend his own money to give scholarships via the Permata programme”.

“Come on people. UMNO did this and did that using OUR money. We paid taxes and whatnot. If PAS or PKR were the government, wouldn’t they be doing the same thing? Road, school, infrastructures and whatnot are the government’s responsibility”.

I certainly agree with this perspective that “the Malays will continue to lag behind if we allow UMNO to remain in power. We will be fed with bedtime stories that the Malays are under siege…”.

Finally, “we must never blame others for our backwardness and lacking in every aspect, be it in the economic or education fields. Instead, the one who must take the blame is UMNO. UMNO has failed us and after 53 years in power, there is no more chance. Out it must go!

The Malays must move forward. We must earn our respect and position. We must not allow everything from scholarships to house discounts be given to us because our parents happen to be Malay. Does everybody get to decide their race before birth? We Malays are not lazy or intellectually inferior. We must be competitive. Believe me the moment you let the Malays stand on their own without crutches, they will survive. After all, that is the natural law. You give a fish, people will eat for a day, but when you teach to fish, people will eat for good. You continue helping the Malays, you will only prolong their dependence on crutches.

And for the Malays to move forward, PAS should never marry UMNO, again. Let UMNO be gila talak. And gila talak people won’t stay that long”.

I need not add anything more because it bared the core truths about UMNO’s foolhardiness.

Shireen's Making a Speech

Today I submitted my fifth and last batch of questionnaires – this time, a set of 13 questionnaires, and coupled with KY Leong’s 99 questionnaires – we should have enough to start working on our “Entrepreneurship” project paper.

It is always nice to be recognized – last night, Dr. Paul Chan sent an email thanking everybody for the successful realization of the Northumbria University collaboration with HELP. I also received a small mention because I introduced the University to Dr. Chan about a year ago. At least he remembered.

This evening, HICT Toastmasters had their meeting and it was great to see two key members returning to its fold. Shireen purposely took half a day off in order to attend the meeting – and in the process she delivered her long-overdue CC speech # 7: Research Your Topic titled “Please kill me”. In case, you are getting alarmed by this title – no worries, it is actually about euthanasia. By the way, I was her evaluator and this time, she seemed affected by a shiver of nervousness. Certainly, that can happen even to accomplished speakers especially when there is a long break between making speeches. Still, for those who know her, you can bet she won’t disappoint. And she didn’t. I told you so wad! The quality of her speechmaking was still intact and wondrous to my ears. Also I was glad to be back because I missed the last two meetings – prior engagements had prevented me from attending, that's why!

Overall, it was a marvelous meeting – Lorna Fisher (i.e. General Evaluator) and Vincent Soon (Evaluator for Alan Tan) were gracious enough to accept our invitation to come. And our new members picked up valuable tips from these eminent Toastmasters. A new Executive Committee is poised to take over tomorrow and I must say they are very gung-ho about it, which is fantastic! The other great piece of news is that HICT Toastmasters Club has finally achieved Distinguished Club recognition in only our second year of existence because we have fulfilled 6 of the 10 goals! For the 2010-2011 year, we should aim to achieve more goals and possibly, earn the President's Distinguished Club award. We have entrusted the leadership of this club to Mike Cheang and a new team and even as we put our faith in them – in my books, at least, they have already succeeded.

My 2010 New Year Resolutions

I am not one to give up on my resolutions so easily. I am aware that each new year presents new challenges. Therefore, at a personal level, I have morphed these challenges into resolutions. I am determined to work hard at them. An Oprah Winfrey quote comes to mind: “Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right”. Yes, I have got another year, right?

2010 Resolution List

1. Start writing my Marketing textbook
2. Start my second Masters
3. Write my Ph D proposal and submit for approval
4. Write two short stories and get them published
5. Complete ten ACG-qualifying speeches and achieve Toastmasters' ACG and ALB recognitions
6. Teach 1000 hours for period October 2009-September 2010
7. Direct 45,000 visits to my blog.

After all, resolutions require us to make changes to accommodate the challenges that are before us. As Barack Obama said: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek”. I also remembered a December 24, 2009, 2:32 PM text message from Dr. Paul Chan: "Look forward and be successful".

Cost-Cutting at Univeristy of Melbourne

The other day I brought up the topic of ‘execution’ in this blog. In fact, this is a subject that is familiar to my students, especially those taking my OL328 Leadership course this semester. We have learned about Jack Welch and the 4E’s. The discipline of the 4E’s in fact, has helped Welch to find and develop leaders who would fit into GE’s high-octane, performance-based culture. The fourth E is ‘execution’ (and the other 3 E’s are energy, energize, and edge). People who execute effectively understand that activity and productivity is not the same thing. The best leaders know how to convert energy and edge into action and results. In short, they know how to execute. That’s why execution is so vital to any organization that wants to succeed!

My students are well-advised to pay attention to the above...

Dr. Paul Chan highlighted news from the University of Melbourne regarding job cuts. This news is bound to hatch some anxiety because jobs in the education sector are supposedly recession-proof. I suppose in today’s world, everything has become unpredictable and volatile, and anything can happen. Given that this university is No. 38 in the THE.QS World University Rankings 2008, I was intrigued and even puzzled. And so I searched the Net to find out more about this cost-cutting exercise.

On webpage http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/melbourne-uni-to-cut-220-jobs-20090728-dzy1.html (accessed July 29, 2009), I was dismayed to read that the university remains in the black but because it does not want to compromise its long-term viability – whatever that means – Vice Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis announces that the axe is about to fall on 220 jobs through a voluntary redundancy program. The impending job losses, amounting to about three per cent of the university's 7,500 staff, are expected to cost around $15 million, and they are among a number of measures designed to save $30 million a year. Other measures include a senior staff wage freeze, a hiring freeze on non-academic staff, job sharing and cuts in travel. But of course, the university is executing this "with a heavy heart".

“We anticipate that if we are successful in holding down expenditure then we can come through this with no further loss of jobs and without having to go through a further round of voluntary redundancies," Prof Glyn told reporters.

"Most Australian universities have gone through a process like this, or are going through the process but we've decided to go public and be upfront about ours”.

This is plain horsefeathers. Still this is also today’s reality.

I Look Like a Pufferfish

Today, in college – my students noticed the discolored half of my puffed-up face, and expressed concern. In fact, one student suggested that if anybody asked what happened to my face, to tell them that I was in a kickboxing competition, but since I am not Tony Jai (of Ong Bak fame), I took a direct kick in the face. But then this would have become a very tall tale indeed! Never mind, the fact of the matter is, I did fall down in an awkward fashion and come to think of it, it was both embarrassing and unfortunate. Didn't you read my blog posting yesterday?.

Former PM Mahathir Mohamed was quoted in a news report to have said: “We have to speak the truth, and the reality is, the people are disappointed with UMNO’s leadership. To be respected, you must be Malays with morals” (The Malaysian Insider, June 28 at webpage http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/30784-dr-m-wants-umno-cleansed-of-corruption-, accessed June 28). Duh! Don’t we all know it!

There’s a news report dated June 25 that talked about research being conducted by the blog UberCEO.com. By studying Fortune’s 2009 list of the top 100 CEOs, this study concluded that not one CEO had a blog; 81% of CEOs did not have a personal Facebook page; and only two CEOs had Twitter accounts (Webpage http://malaysianinsider.com/index.php/world/30509-top-us-execs-still-shun-blogs-facebook, accessed June 29). Sharon Barclay, editor at UberCEO.com who runs executive PR firm Blue Trumpet Group said “It’s shocking that the top CEOs can appear to be so disconnected from the way their own customers are communicating. They’re giving the impression that they’re disconnected, disengaged, and disinterested”. Strange but true!

Eventful Saturday

Yesterday, I attended the CEO forum on “Riding Out of the Current Global Economic Crisis” at Exchange Square, Bursa Malaysia. There was a panel of 5 CEOS, including Dr. Paul Chan representing HELP International Corporation Bhd. As expected, Dr. Chan was eloquent in delivering his perspective and he articulated all the issues very well. Some of the gems he shared include “creating a company that is enduring and endearing”; “mindset transforming”; and “what matters is not resources, but resourcefulness” (although I beg to disagree – I believe resources are important, and so is resourcefulness). The other panelists, Tiong Kwing Hee, Group CEO of Ecofirst Consolidated Bhd, Danny Leong, CEO of Cuscapi Bhd, Cheng Ping Keat, Group CEO of Khind Holdings Bhd, and Soh Meng.Hui, Director & Head of Research of Alliance Research Sdn Bhd did not give the audience anything new, and in a way, it was a letdown. Still, it was an interesting Saturday morning – if not for this talk, I would be in college, compiling my ADP teaching resource files.

I also had a bad fall, just as I left the forum’s venue – I tripped and landed on my face, literally. My right side of the face, to be precise. I don’t know how I landed in this manner, but I did and I grimaced in agonizing pain. My skin tore and bled, and soon, it became clear that half my face would turn black-and-blue.

And for some reason or another, I had felt as if I had transformed into Two-Face – remember him in the Batman movie? Okay, so I am exaggerating, I am not hideously disfigured. Besides, Harvey Dent's face was mangled on the left side. But looking at my image in the mirror today, it sure makes me feel like him, nevertheless. My fertile imagination has been working overtime, I guess...

That same evening, I went to the Avanti Italian Restaurant, Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa where the D’Utama Advanced Toastmasters Club Installation Nite was held. The food was great, and so was the wine.

I kept a low profile throughout since I was still shell-shocked after the nasty fall earlier today. No matter what, I had a nice evening because I was among very good friends.

Part 1: The AirAsia X Experience

The D72002 flight to London left on June 16, 0100 hours without me. Fortunately, I managed to board another flight, about 33 hours later – Flight No. D7 2006. Even spending close to 8 hours at the LCC Terminal was bearable because I wanted to make sure I got on the next flight. And I did. When I cleared Immigration – imagine that! I hadn't been abroad for two whole years! – I said a prayer because I knew I was finally going to the UK. I had worked really hard to write this academic paper with Sheila Cheng and Dr Cho Cho Wei, and I was determined to go to the University of Hertfordshire to present the said paper. I am an academic after all – I have to start presenting papers and publishing in journals. It would have been really great if Paul Chan could have been supportive financially, but... Anyway, I couldn't care less because I had already made up my mind about going.

Once in the plane, I was mighty relieved. And I began to relax. Still, take-off was kinda slow since we were aircraft No. 5 in the queue. But what's important, flight No. D72006 did take off.

This AirAsia X flight was okay – I had no major complaint whatsoever. Yes, I had to pay for my drinks (e.g. a can of Carlsberg 320 ml cost RM10). I had to occupy myself since I had 14 hours on my hands – luckily, I had my trusted Walkman to entertain me throughout the journey, since the airline didn't provide any (unless you paid RM30 for a portable video player where one could enjoy movies, tv shows, music and games). Food, I must say, was disappointing. Other than that, cabin service was pleasant, and even friendly. I was not the type to sleep well on a plane – but on and off, I did managed to drift into deep slumber, accompanied by loud trumpets of snores (or at least I imagined them to be).

I landed in London's Stansted Airport to be met by wonderful English sunshine (the ground temperature was a lovely 15-degree Celsius). Come to think of it, I should have kissed the ground as my feet touched the tarmac - but that would have been so Hollywood, right? I have really missed this British weather...

The Branding of Universities

At the invitation of Paul Chan, I am attending a 2-day workshop (June 15 & 16) on “The Branding of Universities” at Holiday Inn Glenmarie, KL. The speaker is Philip Zerrillo of Kellogg Graduate School of Management; the organizer is AKEPT (Higher Education Leadership Academy) and it is organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. I certainly believe this is an interesting workshop because we are discussing “university branding”, which to me, at least, is a rather uncommon topic – but it is nonetheless very relevant given the growing recognition that Malaysia is trying to build a larger, more flexible tertiary education sector, more responsive to its rapidly growing and changing economic requirements – and ultimately capable of even exporting services to its neighbors (e.g. HELP already has a formidable presence in Vietnam). And why not? K Steele had this to say: “Higher Education is the most complex, expensive intangible most people will ever purchase, and the purchase decision is therefore powerfully influenced by brand reputation”. So, it is timely that we "learn" about branding universities.

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Learning is one thing, applying what we hav elearnt is another.

In the Doldrums

Yesterday, the New Straits Times carried Najib’s admission that our economy will contract to between -4.0% and -5.0% this year – in March, the government had persisted in insisting that Malaysia’s growth is between -1.0% and 1.0% (May 29, p 2). And in The Sun on the same day, Najib was also quoted to have said that Malaysia is already in technical recession (p 1). 

Just to put things in proper perspective, Bank Negara had announced worse-than-expected first quarter economic growth which shrank 6.2 per cent from a year ago, the worst quarter since it contracted 10.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 1998 at the height of the Asian financial crisis (The Malaysian Insider, May 29).

And today, The Star had reported that the US economy sank at a 5.7% pace in the first quarter as the brute force of the recession carried over into this year. It marked the second straight quarter where the economy took a huge tumble (May 30, p W41). So, we shouldn’t pay heed to the glimmer of misplaced optimism painted by some misguided economists that things are looking up. I tend to agree with this appraisal from UK’s The Telegraph: “A more clear-eyed assessment of where we stand is contained in the Bank of England's latest snapshot which warns that the world economy remains in ‘deep recession’ with output contracting and trade falling ‘precipitously’; the global banking and financial system remains ‘fragile’; the timing and strength of any recovery are ‘highly uncertain’.” (Webpage

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/5307610/Its-the-end-of-the-beginning-of-the-recession-not-the-beginning-of-the-end.html, dated May 11, 2009). Believe me, we are very much in the same boat too.

From my personal perspective, the cost of living is still rising and worse, I have to endure a salary cut, with effect from this month. I am trying to be supportive of Paul Chan and HICT. Let's hope this sacrifice has not been misplaced. Back to the topic of the economy, please don’t tell me to be upbeat about it. It is altogether a gloomy outlook – austere, bleak, and cheerless.

Paul Chan Graces ADP Orientation

Today, the fifth and final day of the ADP Orientation saw Dr. Paul Chan turning up to give a short talk to our new ADP students. And afterwards, more presentations and also skits on “college life” as a closing to this Orientation Week, that is a balanced combination of fun and cerebral activities.

I must thank ADP staff and students (very special thanks to Edrickson Duane, Mathew, Vel, Arun, Francis, Sue Ee, and Siew Mei, who were there almost every day), CSMD staff, particularly Martin, Owais and Jonathan, as well as the respective speakers for making this Orientation Week a successful event. And ADP classes begin next week... just in case, people forget!

Positive HELP

Dr. Paul Chan is in the news again – this time he was featured in StarBizWeek, where he expressed confidence that the HELP International Corp Berhad is set to achieve RM100 million revenue in the fiscal year ending October 31 (Star, April 11, p SBW10). His confidence stems from “increasing student numbers, higher fees, and a plethora of new product offerings”. I do not believe HICT figures in this at all since we are still a very sick entity. Still on loss-making HELP-ICT, Dr. Chan did comment that he expects it “to return to the black within a year” (lines 78-79). My gut feeling tells me that it won't happen because we refuse to face the truth of our sickness! Anyway, from a business point of view, it is my belief that we should become a niche player.

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In the EPL matches yesterday, both Liverpool and Arsenal won their respective games, the former whipping Bolton 4-0 (the scorers were Torres, 5, 33; Agger, 83; Ngog, 90); and the latter thumping Wigan 4-1 (the scorers were Walcott, 61; Silvestre, 71; Arshavin, 90; Song Billong, 90+2).

In the SPL, Celtic played to a 1-1 draw against Hearts; the solitary Celtic goal coming from Vennegoor of Hesselink (1). We are still top of the table, but Rangers is dangerously close – only one point separates the two teams after 32 games.

A is for Accountability

OSK Research did a 1QFY09 Results Review on HELP International Corp and gave a thumbs-up and this verdict: “We are positive on HELP as it is the most profitable listed education stock in Malaysia and is backed by a solid management team”. Paul Chan had this to say about the results of 1QFY09: “We are proud of the HELP Group. We are achievers and we can be better if HICT people understand the meaning of business”! The message is clear, lucid and straightforward. So do we get his meaning and start to work really smart to turn around the business?

There’s another bit of news that I want to highlight - but it's about French car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen in today’s The New Straits Times (March 31, 2009, p B12) that is worth sitting up and taking notice. Their board has fired chief executive Christian Streiff on Sunday (i.e. March 29). “The board unanimously judged that the exceptional difficulties faced by the auto industry imposed a change in management,” chairman Thierry Peugeot said in a statement. The decision came after Peugeot last month posted a €343 million net loss and said it expected to stay in the red until 2010. Now, that’s accountability.

Streiff himself was parachuted into Peugeot in 2006 from Airbus, where he had been CEO for only 100 days before his ouster. Streiff had been lambasted in the French press for announcing 3000 layoffs right after the French government gave the company three billion euros. He also caught a lot of heat from the government and the media for importing Peugeots manufactured in the Czech Republic for sale in France. And, he was hospitalized from the end of May until July, leading some industry analysts to question the condition of his health.

Nonetheless, Streiff quickly defended his tenure at Peugeot after his firing, saying that policies he had put into place at Peugeot had left the company well-prepared to cope with the economic downturn. He mentioned that under his leadership, Peugeot had introduced popular new models, initiated cost-cutting and effective inventory controls. “The economic and financial community hailed these results. Thus I cannot understand the board’s decision,” he added.

But as Brendan Moore who filed this same news report on March 29 (Webpage http://www.autosavant.com/2009/03/29/peugeot-citroen-fires-their-ceo/) said, Streiff’s opinion matters for nothing in this process; instead the important opinion is the one the board holds, and the board lost confidence in him, and just like a lot of other senior auto industry executives, Streiff has lost his job in this unforgiving market environment.

Catherine Pulsifer (from Good-bye Manager, Hello Coach!) had preached: "Employers today are looking to their leaders to think more strategically. No longer is it acceptable to focus on the day to day issues. The team is accountable for the day to day decisions". And Stephen Covey is right too when he said: "Accountability breeds response-ability". So HICT's management must get their act together...fast and furious, to quote a popular movie title.

A Story to Touch Us

Here's a touching story that should pull our heart strings:

The girl in the picture is Katie Kirkpatrick, she is 21 . Next to her, her fiancé, Nick, 23. The picture was taken shortly before their wedding ceremony, held on January 11, 2005 in the US. Katie has terminal cancer and spend hours a day receiving medication. In the picture, Nick is waiting for her on one of the many chemo sessions to end.

In spite of all the pain, organ failures, and morphine shots, Katie is going along with her wedding and took care of every detail. The dress had to be adjusted a few times due to her constant weight loss.

An unusual accessory at the party is the oxygen tank that Katie used throughout the ceremony and reception as well. The other couple in the picture are Nick's parents, excited to see their son marrying his high school sweetheart.

Here, Katie, in her wheelchair and the oxygen tank, listening to a song from her husband and friends.

At the reception, Katie has to take a few rests.The pain does not let her stand for long periods.

Katie died five days after her wedding day. Watching a woman so ill and weak getting married and with a smile on her face should make all of us think..... Happiness is reachable, no matter how long it lasts. Really...we should stop making our lives complicated.

Life is short

Break the rules

Forgive quickly

Kiss passionately

Love truly

Laugh constantly

And never stop smiling

No matter how strange life is

Life is not always the party we expected to be

But as long as we are here, we should smile and be grateful.

Dr. Paul Chan sent this story. Indeed, life is short, he says! I fully agree. I have always believed that if we cannot live for today, what's the point of having a tomorrow? So, let's make the most of the Life we have today...