The History of Punggek

Many has asked me this question "What is Punggek?" and to be honest, I never gave it a lot of thought.
But i remember my mother told me few years earlier that when I was small, I used to say the word a lot with my sister but the meaning it represent was not a good one. In the olden days, it was a taboo for kids to say bad words and we were brought up in a world where no bad word existed except the word "bad". We weren't even introduced to the word "beat" although we always got a good beating from our parents almost everday. So my mother told me that me and my sister created the word Punggek to fill the 'void' in our already limited volcabularly.

"I punggek you afterward!" is one of the example that would come out from our mean mouths. So the original meaning of Punggek is "beat". However, concerned with our creativity, my mother introduced us the the word "beat" and the word faded as suddenly as we invented it when.
But when i received a 'revelation' during SALT 1 in Brothers Bungalow to rejuvenate the word. Like in Genesis, when God breathed into Adams nostrils the breath of life, the word Punggek started to wake up in a totally different environment. Full of love, the word took another meaning in its second life.

Compassion.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Why Compassion?

Compassion (from the Latin verb compatior, meaning to suffer or to endure, also related to compatible) is an emotion applied to a very strong feeling about a person or thing. Compassion is an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for something. The term is also often applied to a lively or eager interest in or admiration for a proposal, cause, or activity or love.

In simple terms to love and care without expecting anything in return.

I try my best to spread the word around so that everyone who says the word spreads it further more and so far, compared to when i started to spread it to only a few persons now, spreads to Catholic university students ranging from Johor Bahru to Kuala Lumpur.

I hope by spreading the words first without telling them the meaning, they will find themselves the meaning behind this word here. It is NOT just a catch phrase or meaningless word but a word full of hope that one day the world may change into a better place for all.

By pure compassion.

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