WHEN WE ARE BECOMING OLD...

Tok Wan likes to talk with youngman, sharing his opinion and experience

When we are still young, we can do anything that we want. We become of what we wish for. We do so much effort for that we are known and recognized by people in our field. But nothing is last forever except the Creator himself.

Tok Wan too, was very well known long time ago. He was a Muay Thai fighter, and was also a Kru (Teacher) after retiring from fighting. He was born in 1921 and now he is 90 years old. When he taught Muay Thai at a "Pondok" (religious school), no one know he was a great fighter at that time. No one in the school knew he was "Abe Zin", the undefeatable Muay Thai boxer. Until when there was a Muay Thai tournament, and the organizer put the flyers everywhere in the town, the teachers and schools at the Pondok realized finally that he is the Great Teacher Abe Zin. He shared also his experience of going hunting in the thick jungle. Kambing Gurun (serow), Rusa (Deer), Kijang & mouse deer (barking deer & mousedeer), Beruang (bear) , Badak Sumbu (Rhino) and even Harimau (Tiger) were among the animals that he had hunted. Sometimes, he placed a trap and got a wildboar. He also was close with the late Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim, and Sultan Yahya of Kelantan. He said in joking, "that's why I was "gedebe"! "


But this old man advices me repeatedly. He said that everything that we do to get famous, money or rank, will vanish anytime. If we had a chance, we will live long enough to understand that too much effort was done for our live in this world. But most of the time we forget to prepare for afterlife. He said that now God takes the family members, the health, the wealth and the fame from him. But he thanks to God as he still able to do his religious obligation.


And for me, I ask myself. How do I want to live and to leave this world. Coming to my ears, one Doa after the prayer. Wa Hayatana Hayatal Ulama', Wa Mautana Mautanash Shuhada'. (And our life as a life of scholars, and our death as a death of martyrs)