Sometimes our broken time is the best thing that could happen to us. A branch snapped off the mother tree, severed permanently and tossed into the sea.
Our broken time, when we are left on our own with expectations unmet, could be the best opportunity to start over again. The little branch can grow again elsewhere.
Many of us don’t have the courage to take another path because of obligations or living the lives expected of us by others. So, a freak storm could be a welcome thing to get us out of the deadlock.
We may not like the experience at first. And quite rightly so because who, in the right mind, wants to go through hardship unprepared.
The thing about a granted prayer is that the victory often doesn’t arrive with a glittery parade like we imagined. Like reaching the peak of a mountain, you’re greeted with a breath-taking view, battered body and exhaustion.
It’s a different kind of happy.
Our broken time, when we are left on our own with expectations unmet, could be the best opportunity to start over again.
The “mengkuang” screwpine
On Pangkor Island, I found a broken screwpine branch washed on the shore after an overnight storm. It probably came from a nearby mangrove.
The screwpine or “mengkuang” is the backbone of Asia Pacific’s craft culture. The thorny leaves are the essential material for the woven mat and other traditional crafts.
Up to my parents’ generation, every farming families were expected to make their own screwpine mats or “tikar mengkuang” from the dried leaves.
The woven screwpine mats are now replaced by plastic alternatives in many households that last longer and don’t disintegrate easily.
With that, my generation lost centuries of weaving skills that had been passed on by our ancestors.
After The Rain 