Hello Darling! How are you? Actually I had thought about calling you all week. A friend's mother passed away two weekends ago. It was a very sudden death. He was about to go on vacation and she left this world the day before his departure. It made me realize that life is too short to be holding any grudges against anyone or anything. That's why I wanted to call you. We were such good friends and it was a shame to let it go. I can't even remember what the whole fuss was about. Whatever happened wasn't worth it and it shouldn't have cost us our friendship.
David's sudden death is a total shock. I've heard rumors that he was diagnosed with six months to live. I can't believe that it really happened.
Hope all is well with you. And let us put the past behind us and move on with our lives. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
I never hear back from him. And the other day a friend told me over MSN that JL has left Taiwan for good. He'd talked about moving back to the States when he felt that his career wasn't going as well as expected. This time he finally decided to call it quits with Taiwan - his home away from home for more than 10 years.
Last week a film critic came on my radio show to talk about West Side Story. He asked me if I know of JL's whereabouts. He did not seem surprised at all when he learned of the recent departure.
"You know...he gave himself no credit for his work. Every time I saw him, he just seemed so unhappy. He often complained about being labeled as a foreigner and missed out on opportunities as a result. He's a Caucasian male trying to make it in the Chinese showbiz. People will always recognize him as a non-Chinese personality. He should have used it toward his advantage. No matter where he goes or what he does, he will never be happy as long as he keeps looking for validation from others."
Perhaps he was seeking validations from the wrong people. We as his friends have never stopped telling him that working in showbiz is a remarkable achievement for one with a non-Chinese face.
Most people tend to fall into pitfalls of trying to please everyone. In reality, it's not possible to make everyone happy. This task is as difficult as asking for world peace!
So, accept yourself for who are you and be happy with it. If anyone tells you otherwise, well, there's no point to be associated with that person. Even though there's always room for improvement, you're as good as the way you are!
