Chasing back lost time

Recently, I have the 'honour' of being graced by 2 dark eye rings that developed around my eyes. (where else? ^_^) I am not really sure as to when it actually appeared as normally its hidden below my spectacle frames. My initial reaction was that of surprise as I wasn't expecting that at all.

Come to think of it though, it really shouldn't come as a surprise as since starting work with my new employer i've been sleeping for only 5 hours or so (sometimes less) for the past 3 weeks. Outside of work I've added items like nihongo lessons, bike lessons, exercising & meeting friends into whatever free time I have. So far, my stand on it is that it's been tiring, but definitely fulfilling.

I always have the thinking that I've already wasted a large good part of my youth either doing unimportant things or not doing anything good at all. Time, being such a valuable resource, cannot be recovered once its lost - hence since I cannot find back lost time, the only thing I can do, is to make best the usage of what amount of time I have left.

To reach the red moon, where l'll be reborn

In chinese mythology there is a story about the 'bridge of naihe' based on the concept of karma. It is believed that when a person dies, all the deeds that he has done will then be assessed, then depending on the eventual verdict, the ultimately kind person will then be sent to heaven to reap the seeds he has sowed, whearas the ultimately sinful person will be sent to hell via the bridge of naihe, Where he'll have to atone for all the wrong doings committed, before being given another chance and get reborn back into the mortal realm.

A similar concept on karma is represented in a console game I came across - the game has an enchanting scene song, whose tune I still remember to this day. Part of the song goes something like this: "Red moon red moon, cleanse my soul. Let your shine of benovelence release me from my sins" Set in the netherworld, souls who had sinned much during their lives are sent to the netherworld to slave so as to atone for their sins. Every few hundred years or so, the moon will turn red, offering the chance for the souls who had fully atoned by then to be reborn.

A topic that certainly borders on the issues of spirituality and religion isn't it? Come to think of it, if we only realise how we had fared as a person only when we had reached the 'bridge of naihe', its already too late isn't it? How much long do we have to wait then before we can see the red moon again then? Its easy to make an U-turn when driving. Its not too hard to catch up on missed television drama episodes either. Life, however, is a different matter altogether; we cannot recover back lost time. Neither can we undo the pain that we sometimes inflict onto our loved ones. But we can still change for the better - we decide where the 'point of no return' is. It may not be possible to undo the wrongs done but its certainly possible to create more rights. This, I believe, is the red moon that each and everyone can find - within ourselves.