BIK MONG MY DEAR SISTER

 LIFE AT SUNSET

I heard the phone rang. I checked the number but it didn't look familiar. Must be an admirer, I thought with a smile. Hello, and I knew it's my sister. Strange ...she never ever called me. My heart beat a little faster because it must be something really important for her to break protocol. She's my now eldest sister, cause the two elder sisters are now deceased.The younger sister must call the older sister. That 's the ADAB she insists that we all follow. I never argued on this point because it's just an opinion that really does not matter much to me.

True enough, my sister wanted to confide. Something she never ever did in all her 73 years of life. But now that I am 62, I have no course for any displeasure.I listened and listened well, assuring her that its ok to call and ask for help if she needed any. She is relatively well to do and I am sure its not money that she needed from me. Then what else could it be? I began to wonder if its marital problem. But it can't be happening at this stage of her life. You know men are unpredictable. In my opinion oftentimes they don't say what they mean and dont mean what they say. I am sure my husband would not agree on this, but nevethe less I think its true, unless the level of Iman is indeed high.

No, its not about a marital problem although listening to what is not said, I could sense that something is not very right. Somehow she stop short of revealing straight.

At age 70's one must wonder that if you had stayed together all these years, no problem can be so bad that one maybe wanting to do just othewise. I remember a distant friend once said, "you may age, but LOVE does not". Now that I am 62 that may be true. Men could and would look at pretty girls, pretty ladies as if he is 26 or 27. They will never admit, but body language will reveal their true colors.

OOOoooopssss, I am digressing too much. pardon me. My dear sister wanted to tell me that her 35 year old son got mugged, and robbed of RM164000. while on the way to the Bank. That kind of happening is a daily thing now. But to my sister its a trauma. Of course it could be traumatic because it happened in a small town of Kota Tinggi in Johor.

What can I say. I sympathised with her and suggested things that she could do to calm herself down. The point that I want to share here is the fact that our neighbourhood is no longer safe, our town and cities are no longer safe. But we talk about economic and social development all the time. We set up institutions, discussed matters on social engineering to garner co-opeartion and understanding, we have seminars on love and morality etc, etc.But where is the result. Why are these things still rampant.But let me say just that for "fear" that I may dubbed a dissident.

I hope I am making sense in what I have just written. That telephone call means so much to me that I am actually just recording it so I won forget it. I will continue later maybe , because this is about LOVE (mawaddah).