The Hurdle Race.

The days and years drift by very quickly.
A friend asked me one day, how and what I thought of this very simple word called “Life”
I thought for a while and started to recall my own.
I can only think of my own anyway.
After a few minutes, I told her this.
I think life is like a hurdle race.

It brought me back to my school days.
Months before the school sports, we were supposed to participate in all kinds of athletics events to score points for the house (color)
Then there is the hurdle race that I cannot forget.
You will start with a very simple low hurdle and you start running and jumping over every single one of them until you come to the finish line.

Great! Says the teacher, now you will have to come back and start all over again.
Only this time she will raise the hurdle a little bit higher.
Not a problem, go repeatedly.
We go run and jump over those hurdles with your friends cheering for you and when you fall, we all laughed.

Then the height went so high that either you fall or the hurdle would.
This not very nice teacher will just tell you to get lost.
At that point, you are actually happy because you do not need to run and jump anymore.
Sit under the tree and laugh until a friend joins you and we can talk or even compare the cuts and bruises we have achieved but not the trophy. We were happy to be left out of that race.

Today, life as I see it is just like my hurdle race in school.
Only difference, when you fall in the beginning, you get up and try repeatedly.
As the years go by and the more hurdles you got to jump.
You get very tired with age and this time you do not laugh as you use to.
This time you cry.
Tears have replaced the laughter.

Therefore I see life today still as one hurdle race after another, hurdles going higher and more difficult.
It finally got into my mind what that simple looking race is really about.
It was something we were all going to go through but not many will relate back to that simple/difficult hurdle race.
Little did I know at that time, life was going to be the same as that race?


In my life, other than those hurdles that I have so many times jumped over.
I was to live life in this silly hurdles race.

I went on with my friend telling her that I have viewed life as a hurdles race.
Each time you go through one hurdle, there will be another waiting for you.
The race will not end until the final hurdle.
In addition, the faster you reached the finishing line.
The sooner you need to come back to the starting point and start all over again.
What then do you do? She asked.
I told her, through experiences and falls,
I am begin to get very tired and yet more adept but I realized that this race will go on for as long as we live. Hurdles are the surest sign of life!
I have chosen to run slow and jump slow.
I want to take my time. Whether there is a reward or not, I am going slowly.
In this way, I will not fall so easily and painfully and if I do not finish the race fast.
I will not need to come back to the starting point so fast to face another stretch of perhaps higher hurdles waiting for me.
In addition, I said to her, in a race like this.
No one can help you; you will have to finish them all on your own.
So why not go slowly, what is the hurry?
The hurdles will always be there but not your strength.
You need to rest and then go again.
Even if you did not finish the race.
You will not be a loser; it is probably that you are just too tired to want to try harder.
In concluding to our conversation, I have left my friend thinking very hard and she thanked me, for seeing life in this simple manner.
Something taught to us when we were young.
Certainly it is a case of sports imitating life!

I have shared this with my family, especially my kids.
Let them think for themselves how I see life.
They will probably come to me someday and tell me their version.
I hope what I have said to them will at least leave a little thought into their minds.

My sixteen-year-old son insisted on taking a part time job during his school holidays.
Very seriously, he gets on this job-hunting thing.
I sit back and watched for sustained enthusiasm.
Okay, I saw it. He is serious, I thought to myself.
He had shown me his determination and that is good enough for someone his age.
I called an old friend and asked him if he would give my son a part time job.
He got his job and was thrilled.
He make sure he finishes what has to be done around the house so I will not be too tired.
He went to work for the first time in his life yesterday and knowing he is safe, I was comfortable.
Then a message came on my phone.
It was from my son, saying he is fine and it was his break time.
He asked how have I been feeling and if I am well (was really sick for many days)
Tears welled in my eyes. Feeling so much love and looking at the picture of him as a little boy, happiness took over.

When he came home, he quietly asked me.
Is this part of that hurdle race you are talking?
I answered him, feeling very proud of him and said…….yes my son.
Go slow and take your time.
I feel bliss just knowing he finally got what I was trying to say.
You see, I have always been telling my kids, when the time is right.
I will let you go but slowly.

Another race has just begun!

Given a choice, I will not be the one who will keeps raising the hurdles.
May they go slow and jump over every of their hurdles in front of them.

Meanwhile, I have chosen my pace.
I am going slowly with my race.
Been running too fast and too much for too long.
My own hurdle races and experiences have equipped me to watch and guide my two wonderful angels.

Nothing happens without a reason.


*There is no shortcut to life. To the end of our days, life is a lesson imperfectly learned*