Consider a couple of men and inhale appreciation.

He's a handsome sort of bugger with a little bit of charm
Had I already met him, I'd be on his arm.

Having glanced a photo of a friend of mine (yes, facebook is great for the mindless browsing of photos), I was amused by my sudden realisation that this said friend of mine had a very handsome face, which reminded me of my grandfather. In the last family trip to Malaysia, upon reunion with my father's father, I was astonished at how handsome my grandfather was and wondered how I'd never noticed before. It made me wonder how he must have looked in his youth. Allow me to regale my last memory of him: a sun-spotted, heavily-tanned, soft but wrinkled skin, forever singlet clad, well endowed with generous sort of beer-gut, neither short nor tall, fat not thin sort of man. I just know that his life, as expressed by his 80 something nature was riddled with pain - and every visit sort of sank my heart. He was imprisoned by his heavy dependency for assistance as his body lately manifested complaints from a lifetime of hard labour, confining him to his bamboo chair in front of hours of television. He was not happy, he was just existing. And although it sounds harsh of me to have drawn this sort of conclusion, I'm sure he would agree. He was respected but not loved, not nearly enough. I've never faced such a hard life as I imagine he has. I've heard snippets of my parent's lives and can hardly begin to understand that of my grandparents. Perhaps I should, it would probably make me appreciate the much that I have considerably more.

Life is vain, save the moments we spend reflecting on the lives of our predecessors and successors. I'd say it is these moments that fuel our desires to improve, to evolve, to make worthwhile changes so that those who lived before us can be justified and so those who come after us can have better.

Well, this post turned out nothing like I expected it to. Oh, the words take on a life of their own!