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Sunday, July 15, 2007

Your Own Special Way

Requiem For Dalilah


Dear Friends,



It is with great sadness to hear Dalilah mourn the loss of her mother-in-law, Allahyarhamah Mahyar Binti Ismail, who was called to Allah S.W.T. in Johor Bahru sometime last Saturday afternoon, 14 July 2007.

I would like to extend my Takziah and condolences to her husband Mambang Hijau, and may God give both wife and husband strength to weather the storms ahead.

I am particularly fond of Dalilah; for God has "tested" her more. More than other lesser mortals like the rest of us, for sure. Dalilah has battled cancer, undergone mastectomy and faced other heart-wrenching moments in the course of treatment and in her personal life as well.

If there is any thing I learned in the blogosphere, is that it is entirely possible to feel emphaty, and share someone else's pain.

The blogosphere, in the Malaysian experience at least, has brought to the mainstream other strong women who have decided to blog, and thus share their experiences with us.

Recent bloggers like Miss Yvonne Foong, who opened our eyes to the extremely rare and incurable genetic disorder called Neurofibromatosis (NF) Type 2, comes to mind. For that we have Blogger Zorro (or Unker Bernard as I like to call him) to thank for bringing Yvonne to us.

Female bloggers like Pi Bani, Yvonne, E a.k.a. Acciaccatura, Daphne Ling - and of course - Dalilah Raden Galoh, are at the forefront - often sharing and highlighting other unfortunate souls that needs attention and assistance. Needless to say, if not for these bloggers, we will never know of the plights of these other unfortunates.

I take my hat off to these strong women, who, in the face of their own adversity, find it in themselves to help others.

A modern parable, and a lesson to us all.

Thank you my sisters, for touching our lives.

And in your own special way, make this cruel wide world, a better place for us all.

Go far enough and you will reach
A place where the sea runs underneath
We'll see our shadow, high in the sky
Dying away in the night...

I've sailed the world for seven years
And left all I love behind in tears
Oh, won't you come here, wherever you are
I've been all alone long enough...

Chorus:

You, you have your own special way
Of holding my hand
keep it way 'bove the water
Don't ever let go - Oh no, no, no

You, you have your own special way
Of turning the world so it's facing
The way that I'm going.

Don't ever.. Don't ever stop...

Whose seen the wind not you or I?
But when the ship moves she's passing by
Between you and me, I really don't think
She knows where she's going at all...


You, you have your own special way
Of carrying me twice round the world
Never closer to home than the day
The day I started...You


You have your own special way
Hold onto my hand keep it way 'bove the water
Don't ever let go no, no, no...


What mean the dreams night after night?
The man in the moon's a blinding light
Won't you come out whoever you are
You've followed me quiet long enough...


You, you have your own special way,
Of holding my hand,
Don't ever let go

You, you have your own special way,
Of turning the world so it's facing
The way that I'm going,

Don't ever,

Don't ever leave me...

Words/Music: M.Rutherford
Vocals: P.Collins

from Genesis' "Wind & Wuthering" (1977)
©Hit & Run Music (Banks/Collins/Hackett/Rutherford)