3/27/2015
LKY – A time for celebration, a happy funeral, a 喜丧
喜丧 pronounced as xi sang, I hope the Chinese character is the right one, is an expression used for someone who has lived a good life and departed at a ripe old age. To qualify, I think the deceased must be past 80 while some would accept 70. The other conditions are a good life, a big family with children and grandchildren and a lot of wealth, fame and fortune, the more the merrier.
According the Chinese custom, a 喜丧 or ‘happy funeral’, is a combination of happy and sad emotions but more of the former, happy that the person had lived well and to a ripe old age and died peacefully and naturally. The sadness comes from the separation or departure of the loved one and not be able to have the person around to continue to enjoy the blessings.
The processes of a ‘happy funeral’ are a reversal of the normal funeral processes that are all about pains, griefs, despair and sadness, all drapes, sack clothes, white and black and crying. A ‘happy funeral’ is about celebration, celebrating the deceased’s good life. Red is the colour for the occasion, not black. Joss sticks are red as well, not the colour of green. Entertainments are provided in the form of opera or in today’s version, stage show or ge tai, 歌台, to entertain the deceased and the living. There will be joy and feastings as well, firecrackers too I think.
I am a bit disturbed by all the grievings and the calls for dressing in the usual mourning black and all the expression of misery. Yes there will be some sadness. In this case, how many people can live the life that LKY has lived and to depart so peacefully, with a big family of children and grandchildren, with a big fortune, jiat buay liao, with the citizens and statesmen of the world saying all the kind words about him?
LKY has live exceptionally well and it is time to call for a celebration for ‘What a life!’ he was blessed with. This is a ‘happy funeral’, a 喜丧. Don’t have to make it a sad occasion. Cut off the solemn music and the look like it is the end of the world. Put on some cheerful tunes and put on the smile. You can’t be mourning and grieving about a life well lived and a life well spent!
‘He is an extraordinary man, lived through an extraordinary time, and did some extraordinary things. ‘ Redbean
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24 comments:
‘He is an extraordinary man, lived through an extraordinary time, and did some extraordinary things. ‘
RB
Tiok. And even more extraordinary is that the effects of it will also be extraordinary, because it will last long after he was gone.
Just look at the extraordinary crowd and the queue to pay last respects before the funeral. Perhaps strategy wise, time to call for an early election to have the maximum effect of it? I think 7 Aug 2015 will be a good day. And Sinkie opposition, be forewarn and get prepared to be wiped out.
The respect is for him alone. The current batch has nothing nothing near what he had done.
Go and call election lah and see how the people will vote? The people will be comparing what the first generation of leaders had done for them and what the present have done for them.
"I don't think that the PAP one-party rule is the key to Singapore's fast economic development, strong social cohesion and unitedness...This is because many Singaporeans were sacrificed during the process of nation-building and policymaking, and our society has paid a price for it... This is why Mr Lee is also a controversial figure in some people's eyes..."
WP leader Low Thia Khiang, speaking in a special parliamentary sitting called to honour the former leader three days after his death.
For saying this, I regain my admiration for Low Thia Khiang, which was lost when he previously said WP is not ready to be govt and praising PAP as a competent govt.
anonymous 8.54am pls note......
7 aug 2015 just declared as sg50
additional holiday.....
6 aug 2015 would be a better
polling day......
it would then be a mega looooooog
holiday for all and be the sg50
ultimate celebration........
what say you........
Right, some cried openly. They do not cry so sad even for their parents funerals.
Maybe, sad no more better benefits from Messiah.
So Aug 06 extra holiday???
Vote early morning and have extra day overseas trip.
Celebrate the PAP demise drinking champagne.
Right, some cried openly. They do not cry so sad even for their parents funerals.
Virgo 10:23 am
Ya lor. Maybe they forgot that without their parents, there would have been no them.
And if LKY had governed Timbuktu instead of Singapore and Sinkies, would he be what he was?
@ Virgo 49 10.26am.
Yes! It is an "extra" holiday ONLY IF 6 aug 2015 is the polling day.
As suggested by you, vote-early-and-go-away.
Will 6 aug 2015 be the dream polling day?
We shall see.
There is place for both sadness and joy at funerals of old people who've done alot.
You celebrate their lives and achievements, and then you grieve for their passing and the loss the living have to bear.
It's not an "either-or" thing as the monochromatic redbean would suggest.
In New Orlean's funerals, there is solemn music, and then joyous happy music of celebration. At Jewish funerals there's always a comic who will tell jokes about the deceased and their lives.
redbean:
>> You can’t be mourning and grieving about a life well lived and a life well spent!
That statement alone shows how little you know and how embarrassingly IGNORANT you are about human emotions and how they function. Epic FAIL, redbean!
The fake intellectual pretending to know it all. Why doesn't he shed a few tears to show us how fake he can be?
Calling RB ignorant, so he very clever, knows all! Please lah.
Marbok Shit, go, go and queue and pretend to show respect and don't waste time here. Where is your cheap champagne?
@1135: nyah nyah nyah, haven't I always recommended that asshole like yourself independently check any claims I'm apt to make when writing OPINION?
>> The fake intellectual ....
WOW! You set such a high bar for me. I am merely a PSLE holder. To be able to "fake" intellectuality you have to have the capacity to do so---which is an enormous skill set. Sorry, but I don't think I'm that good. ;-)
P.S.---continuing my previous post @11:01 am:
Wanna get laid? Go to a funeral. There is evidence to suggest that many people experience heighten sexuality during bereavement.
Virtually no one talks about this because we still are---despite being better educated---mostly intellectually underdeveloped, and thus death is still "taboo" in most cultures. To tell people that you---for some inexplicable reason---suddenly feel horny whilst mourning for the loss of someone, is just too embarrassing to admit out openly.
Wah wah wah........
Was told that there is now even a petition to stop all casino activities of the two casinos this sunday as a respect for Mr Lee.
I am not very sure Mr Lee wants this.
I think the casinos should not close their doors to all.
Maybe for this sunday, stop selling the Daily Levy Passes to locals and PRs.
Must wayang cry cry lah else caught on tv and the pm office will sue lah.
`merely a PSLE holder` - now how did I get it so right?
@557:
>> now how did I get it so right?
As you slid down your mother's filthy cheebye during birth, you swallowed several mouthfuls of her vile and putrid secretions, which then gave you the mystical and magical powers of a clairvoyant.
Just a theory mate, just a theory...
Sinkies should let LKY rest in peace not creating so much 'noise'.
This MS shit cannot take a little heat and is losing control of himself. Bipolar sickness is taking a toll on this poor bastard. He must be feeling very hurt.
Not to worry about him. He will say he is normal. He is normal, not sick.
@ 920:
Is that your best shot at me?
Please, you have NO DARN CLUE what bipolar disorder is, but I can tell you (as well as my doctor), I don't have it. Please educate yourself, at least for your own good. People with bipolar disorder swing from high to low. I rarely, if ever swing low---i.e. get depressed. I don't even know what it means...maybe because of my brimming confidence and belief of extraordinary self worth :-)
Online test by The Blackdog Institute (respected Australian Institute for mood disorders) "Black Dog" comes from Churchill's reference to his on-off depression, which he called his "black dog".
Psychiatrist Dr Robert Hare devised a test for psychopathy, here is an online version. Knock yourself out, do the test and try and guess MY SCORE.
I'll give you a hint: if you see me in a dark alley, and there are only 2 of us---RUN! ;-)
Truly wonderful if the 2 casinos would voluntarily cease operations on Sunday as a mark of respect to MM LKY. He was vigorously against any casino in Singapore for most of his life. They now suck out the hard-earned income of Singaporeans EVERYDAY.
" ... respect to MM LKY. He was vigorously against any casino in Singapore for most of his life."
March 28, 2015 7:33 am
Really meh?
So why then did LKY do a policy U-turn on the casino?
"They now suck out the hard-earned income of Singaporeans EVERYDAY."
March 28, 2015 7:33 am
You talking about the integrated casinos or the CPF?
There is a difference.
One is voluntary the other is not.
"What's wrong with collecting more money?" ... from Singaporeans.
@ gamblers:
"It is MORALLY WORNG to allow suckers to keep their money".---famous con artist saying.
No one forces you at gun point to enter any casino. Statistically speaking, you will lose---the math is such that for the casino it is almost a "sure bet".
Casinos, IMO, perform an important PUBLIC SERVICE in that they "thin the herd" by culling the mentally weak and mathematically inept in classical Darwinian style.
"Have you no self control? BANG, you're dead! Your genes are now removed from the gene pool!"
Got "try your luck"?
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