These Three Words

Weddings are just so tiring. Here’s a little speech I made for someone who got married just a few weeks ago- the slightly abridged version:

Not too long ago back in high school, Leslie used to like to openly say, “I hate girls! Girls are troublesome! I DON’T WANT TO GET MARRIED!!”

Luckily for Leslie’s parents, Leslie finally managed to get married today.

When Leslie returned to the country last year, he was an unemployed doctor. He had applied through the government to have him posted to any randomly chosen hospital for his housemanship. Of all the places in the world, Leslie was posted to Kelantan to do his medical internship. How was he to survive this ordeal for the next 3 years?

So, it was nothing but work, work and work for Leslie for the many months he was there, in a place so far away from his family and friends.

Then one day, a middle-aged man was hospitalized at that particular hospital in Kelantan. That man was Clara’s uncle. Sad to say, Clara’s uncle passed away a few months after being hospitalized.

By then, Leslie and Clara had already been in constant contact with each other.

Who would’ve expected something like this to happen right inside a little hospital in a rural area such as Kelantan?

I believe Leslie would have to thank the government for sending him to Kelantan. And though it’s not something nice to have a loved one end up in hospital, I would also like to think that it was Clara’s late uncle who had brought Leslie and Clara together in that hospital…

While everyone in the hall had remained somewhat interested in Leslie and Clara’s love story and how they had met, everyone immediately became more alive at the slightest emphasis placed on those three words: thank the government.

The audience ended up laughing and chuckling more than ever the moment I mentioned “thank the government”. Amazing…

Everyone in the hall knew why everyone else was laughing at those three words. But no one knows for sure how long this kind of a joke containing those three words will continue to be effective. Maybe forever… (!!!)

*Names of all humans and boring location have been changed.