Cycle of Life

Do you still remember Lion King? The story about the lost lion cub, Simba, searching the meaning of life and fight to claim his thrown as the only heir in animal kingdom. Simba fight to uphold tradition and sustain the true cycle of life.

The story today is not about fighting for rightful position (eventhough I'm thinking about it), but to tell you my family history to show that life is about a cycle.

The boy in uniform is the famous Tah Hong Ming. An actor which appear in Yasmin Ahmad's short film that shown in national TV again and again to promote 1Malaysia campaign (before the idea of 1Malaysia has been brought up by our Prime Minister). The boy in orange shirt is not so famous, Mohd Alif is my own nephew. They look alike ey? But we don't have any trace of lineage from Chinese family, so does Alif's mother. To have a nephew with Chinese look is quite cute and to add he always pretending that he have the smile of the famous Tan Hong Ming.

So my brilliant in IT brother and an artist (Alif's father) superimposed this picture to show how similar they are. I have to agree for what they said after seeing this picture.

How that can relate to cirlce of life?

Well, 30 years ago when my brother (Alif's father) was a young boy, at the same age of Alif he too have this Chinese look which is so unfamiliar among our siblings. Well, we have typical Malay looks with some additional of Arab flavour. Because of his looks, he was consistently teased by my uncle and aunt. They called my brother as Hai Hong. We do not know what is the meaning of Hai Hong, maybe what my uncle and aunt mean that, he looks like typical Chinese son, not from a Malay family. My brother on the other hand was so upset with this calling, Hai Hong. He felt that he was not belong to my family due to his unconventional looks.

Years past by.

His first born child is a son, and his name is Mohd Alif. He's too looks like typical Chinese boy. The ironi, the name of Tan Hong Ming.

Well, life is about a circle. We should uphold the tradition, so the world will be in harmonious balance right?

:)

p/s: I don't think Alif upset when we called him Tan Hong Ming. He seems to like it as Tan Hong Ming is so famous. Maybe he think he is famous too. Well, Alif is actually famous in our family, no doubt about it. And he share the same birthday date with our late father. After two years Alif was born, our father passed away. My father was born on 1932 and Alif's 2002. Looks like the cycle has begin. We pray that he will gain the same talent, intelectual capacity, good heart and true servant as our father, his granddad. InsyaAllah.