a bee flavored coke.

Everything and everyone has “buts”. There will always be another side to a coin, some bad in every good – much like a nice, cold can of Coke with a bee swimming in it.

Some friends and I were so hungry after some crazy rides in a theme park on weekend that we ate at the first fast food we saw. After consuming everything, one friend realized that there was something else in his Coke. Upon closer inspection, voilà! It was a bee. It could have ruined his day but he didn't make a big deal out of it. A Coke is still a Coke even if there’s a bee in it. Besides, it’s a bee, not a fly. So we just laughed about it and moved on.

Everything or everyone has “buts”. But (see?) are we just going to ignore and miss all the good things life can offer just because of it?

My work here in Indonesia has its own share of “buts”. Indonesians are generally friendly people “but” you just can’t seem to figure out what planet some of them are from. Had I focused on those difficult people, my whole stay would have been a total mess. It was a painstaking process that I had to go through. And true enough, it taught me some valuable lessons:

I have my own “buts” too. To some, I myself am “difficult to deal with.” I believe I have been putting bees into people’s drinks for far too long that God wants me to learn it the hard way and fast.

We can never change people. “But” we can always change our attitude towards them. Learn to live and let live. Take the time to see a person’s goodness. Respect, admire and then finally, enjoy them. “Even if in some cases, you will feel that the goodness of others is more a promise than a fact, you have only to be patient.”

For those who were able to survive me and who have become my real friends, to those who have made me a better person, thank you for believing in me. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for drinking that bee-flavored Coke.


Live, laugh and loveoutloud!






photo (c) jddunn photography