Fight Song by Rachel Platten

Once in a while, there is a song that came to be, it sounds just about right, the truth rings in your head and it spurs you into actions. This is one of such songs. From the first time I heard of it, I just knew this is a keeper. The lyrics just open a whole world of meaning to whoever needs a little boost :-

Here is the song - Fight Song by Rachel Platten

Instrumental by Piano Guys in Scotland. 

Lyrics:
Like a small boat,
on the ocean.
Sending big waves,
into motion.
Like how a single word,
can make a heart open.
I might only have one match,
but I can make an explosion.

All those things I didn't say
wrecking balls inside my brain.
I will scream them loud tonight,
can you hear my voice tonight?

This is my fight song.
Take back my life song.
Prove i'm alright song.
My power's turned on,
starting right now my i'll be strong.
I'll play my fight song.
And I don't really care if no one else believes...
Because I've still got a lot of fight left in me.

Loosing friends and I'm chasing sleep.
Everybody's worried about me.
In too deep.
Say i'm in too deep.
It's been two years, I miss my home.
There's a fire burning in my bones.
I still believe, yeah I still believe.

All those things I didn't say
wrecking balls inside my brain.
I will scream them loud tonight,
can you hear my voice tonight?

This is my fight song.
Take back my life song.
Prove i'm alright song.
My power's turned on,
starting right now my i'll be strong.
I'll play my fight song.
And I don't really care if no one else believes...
Because I've still got a lot of fight left in me.

Like a small boat,
on the ocean.
Sending big waves,
into motion.
Like how a single word,
can make a heart open.
I might only have one match,
but I can make an explosion.

This is my fight song.
Take back my life song.
Prove i'm alright song.
My power's turned on,
starting right now my i'll be strong.
I'll play my fight song.
And I don't really care if no one else believes...
Because I've still got a lot of fight left in me.
Now, I've still got a lot of fight left in me.

Here is the original official music video for the song : Fight Song

It is a perfect song for patients who are fighting for their lives in hospitals and this one lucky boy was visited by Rachel herself at his hospital bed.

This got even better when the Piano Guys decided to do a Cover Scottish Style and mixed with Amazing Grace, the result is absolutely beautiful and I could listen to it again and again. Here is their story behind the cover. I love the Instrumental Cover by Piano Guys, set in the Highlands of Scotland. The bagpipers and drums all make the song very dramatic. 

This is the Piano Guys' story for this cover from http://thepianoguys.com/portfolio/fight-song-amazing-grace/

When we first heard Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” we were inspired by its message. In a world where we too often talk about our differences, we have at least one thing in common. We all struggle. Not in the same way, nor at the same level, but we all want a fighting chance. And we all share in one gift: The will to make the most of our lives. To take what we’ve been given and turn it into something better could be considered the sentient measuring stick of success. But to do so seldom is simple and more often requires we fight. Not against each other. But against the current threatening to drown the ambition in us.

There is tremendous purpose in struggle. It is when the struggle becomes so fierce that we must fight to swim or sink. John Newton, who penned “Amazing Grace,” worked on a slave trader ship and condoned inhuman atrocities. It was when his ship was on the verge of being torn apart in a violent storm when he called out for Grace. When his feet were once again planted on firm soil he determined to change. His covenant was written into these words,

“I once was lost, but now I’m found; was blind, but now I see.”

Grace is the defining moment when we face and fight a monster poised to define us or destroy us.

This song and video for us was a struggle, but a beautifully defining one. We chose the Scottish culture to depict the dichotomy between Grace and struggle. Who else is tough enough and yet delicate enough to don a kilt in battle? And the Scottish pipe and drum are the ultimate conveyors of melody and cadence. One represents Grace, the other the indomitable fight. Our dream was to film one of the most iconic castles on the Earth, Eilean Donan Castle in Dornie, Scotland.

Grace somehow made this video possible. We had to postpone our trip to Scotland several times, and when we could no longer postpone we had to leap in faith because just before we left everything had fallen through. It wasn’t until we were in the moment and had to let go of our pride and anxiety when everything Gracefully came together. We want to give special props to Paul. When the drone capturing our aerial footage took a nose dive into the frigid waters surrounding Eilean Donan, he took one for the team and jumped in after it, heroically saving the scenes you are seeing today!

From our youth we’ve been taught that when faced with insurmountable, unthinkable odds, we cheerfully do all that lies within our power, and then stand still with the utmost assurance to let fate, destiny, karma, or to let God do the rest. It isn’t easy, but every time we have an opportunity to practice it we get a little better. We’ve found, as John Newton discovered, the closer we get to the furnace of the affliction the more our obstinance and pride burns off revealing the best way to win a fight in ourselves is to let Grace fight the battle instead.

We recognize that this video is far less important than a fight for one’s life. We hope this music will serve as an anthem for those that are in the fight of their lives. We have people close to us who inspire us every day with their grace in the face of such a struggle. This video is dedicated to them: The superheroes in our lives that don’t wear capes, but wear a smile under villainous pressure — those that have been through so many defining moments that they are intimately acquainted with Grace and know it be close cousins with hope. They know that when they can’t fully understand the purpose of a struggle, they instead recognize that knowing there is a purpose is enough. We pray that “Grace will bring them safety through.”

Finally, we feel grateful and we’d like to say, with John Newton, “When we’ve been [here] ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun.”

A Sunrise Journey to the Mount Kinabalu - Day Trip

Living under the foothill of Mountain Kinabalu makes us a special people group, a people that is spoiled for nature's glorious manifestation. Imagine living next to a huge mountain that towers almost to the sky, it is an icon, we could see it from afar. We see the sun and moon plays around the  mountain, sometimes the moon forgot to go away after sunrise.

We made a Sunrise Journey up to the Mountain on a public holiday, just to spend some few hours enjoying the cool mountain and also the HotSpring.

 We started at 5 am from Likas Jaya and the sun was just rising. It was a glorious morning. 

 Morning has broken, like the first morning.

This was my first trip to the Mountain after the 5 June earthquake, I could still see the scar on the Mountain.

A visit the Mountain is incomplete without a trip to the Hot Spring at Poring for a spa bath, even if just for the feet spa. The kids had a great time of cold and hot dips. They were in the water for like 2 hours.

A Father's Prayer by General MacArthur for his son

We parents are wonderful doing so much to labour and toil for our kids' studies and welfare. I am reminded by a great General 's prayer for his son that we need to be mindful of their excel in characters than exam results, their courage to face's life adversities than success in life, their compassion to standby the less fortunate than cruise along with the rich and famous. May this be a prayer for all our kids too. Here is goes:-

In the early days of that war and campaign, Gen. MacArthur acknowledged his dependence on a Heavenly Father when he composed “A Father’s Prayer”:

Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, brave enough to face himself when he is afraid, one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.

Build me a son whose wishes will not take the place of deeds; a son who will know Thee — and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge. 

Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail.

Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.

And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously.

Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, and the meekness of true strength.

Then, I, his father, will dare to whisper, ‘I have not lived in vain.'”

Amen.

Indeed, May the Lord helps our sons and daughters. Amen. 

Youth's Call for Entitlement

Youth's Call for Entitlement

Spaces you need, lots of it, bigger blocks, chunks of it,

Confined to a room in hall lies your ticket to freedom

Bound by the rules of the hall is your starting point to grown up life

Having your own bank account is your start to financial planning

But then do you know that your desire of privacy space pushes us away

The spatial spaces of your private room in a hall is your living space limits

The rules and laws calls for discipline and responsibility of grown up world

The bank account is just your privileges out of hard earned savings.

Youth is calling for independence, freedom and privacy space

Youth is trying to claim their entitlement

To what they think belongs to them which they should use up

To what they think is the utopia of transcend into young adulthood 

To what they think is one of their last major draw out before they reach maturity by law

But what is entitlement that they think they can claim ? 

What could they possibly claim as if the world owes them something ? 

What parents should release to them that is our own now ? 

When as  parents gave birth to you, you are our child

When we care for and nature you, we are parenting you

When we set rules and restrictions, we are disciplining you

When we tell you life stories of our family, we are coaching you 

When we repeat grandpa folk tales to you, we are telling you the family legacy

When we plan to give you the best of education, we are preparing to build your own career

When we give you financial support, we are supporting you while you learn responsibility

When we give you until we have no more, what remains is our love for you.

When you reach 18 and then finally 21, you learn to grow up

With your own room, you have to be responsible for it

With privacy space, you have to cope with loneliness

With living on your own, you have to learn communal sharing with others

With your own bank account, you have to plan to live sensibly

With your living away from home, you have to learn rules and laws

With living on your own, you are responsible for your health

With your daily routines, you have to set out your very own self-discipline

Your entitlement is your birthrights as our child

As your parents, you have our love forever

As your parents, we will coach you like nagging

As your parents, we will provide for you from limited finances 

As your parents, we will discipline you with boundaries

As your parents, we are not immortal

And when we are gone, we hope you find your legacy to live on

The day you start living for yourself you understand what entitlement really means

Footnote :-

How this came to be ?

I had a good sharing with Jane and Yong about youth and the challenges of youth keep claiming entitlement in our family lives. I wrote most part of this while waiting for Jane to make her new pair of spectacles. 

Brentford, 12 September 2015