It can't be helped that whenever anyone declares the above, responses ellicited will include a fair number that do us no favours as a people. In telling people who say we are retarded to either stuff it or take a hike, we are only confirming the statement, that we are morons. Because that's how morons behave: they are pig-headed and defensive beyond belief, sure in the knowledge that all is right with them and their world. Bigots, snobs. Idiots. I am not saying we are all like that, though. I say it cannot be helped because in any sampling of humanity, stupidity is bound to surface: even if it is not universal (and here we must be thankful for small mercies), stupidity is prevalent enough that Singapore, and the world too, is so fucked up.
So what can we do? I can only hope in my limited capacity to persuade any one listening, that when we next hear someone say Singapore is retarded or that it sucks, unpleasant as it is, to refrain from hitting out, but to ask "why?" I believe it is through asking this enough that a society becomes more introspective, and begins to suck less. We can't just ask people to leave if they don't like it here, as if people who don't say nice things have no contribution, right or stake in the matter. People who ask others to leave or shut up: who the fuck do we think we are?
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Thursday, January 1, 2009
The Relationship
That what we have with God is a relationship is nothing new to Christians; but I am writing about it anyway because of the acuteness with which this is being impressed upon me daily, that I fear I might burst if I don't find some release in writing about it.
Why is this being impressed upon me daily? Because there are parallels aplenty between our relationships with the people around us, and that between us and God. Parents in particular, will encounter many; yet that is not to say that most parents are Christians. Indeed, all things considered, I believe Christians are a minority, a people with a peculiar faith. The visible church is huge; many even consider "Judeo/Christian" as the predominant mental framework of the Western world, which sets the agenda for much of what is considered "modern". For instance, I am undecided about polygamy, but I am glad that wife beating is now not only frowned upon in most countries, it is actually illegal. But then again, so much of Christianity is concerned with the invisible rather than what can be seen with the fleshly eye.
Back to relationships… I get occasional parenthood exposure when I interact with my two nephews. They're lovely boys, though somewhat spoilt by my parents who have taken it upon themselves to care for them after my sister's divorce. There is so much I want to show and teach them; yet sometimes this cause is frustrated because there are instances when they are not interested, or that I cannot share something in particular as yet because they are not ready.
I cannot approach them if they reject me; if they are disobedient and defiant, I cannot come close. Knowing full well that their course leads to disaster, I can try to approach them again, ultimately even use the cane... Westerners are squeamish when it comes to the rod, and I have friends who classify it as child abuse; my advice is, don't be too sure. I shall write on child discipline another time. Alternatively, if I don't love them enough, I can do the easiest thing: leave them be.
And if one is more defiant than the other, so that I get more pleasure from interacting with one who is keen to learn, is the more defiant of the two boys then less precious to me? No. Both are precious. Which is why it irks me considerably that my parents sometimes (with no ill intentions, thinking it a harmless thing) proclaim that B is my favoured nephew, the "uncle's pet". This can potentially alienate L from me, and even make him think that I am a third party, robbing him of his brother. Nothing can be further from the truth, as both are equally precious to me.
I cannot overstate the fact that I am undeserving of God's forgiveness; and I am comforted by the parable of the prodigal son, that when the latter returned to his father, his father rejoiced to greet him. Even more comforting, is while I am finite and was tempted to leave my nephews be, God is infinite, and will never forsake us, even as we are too eager to forsake Him.
Why is this being impressed upon me daily? Because there are parallels aplenty between our relationships with the people around us, and that between us and God. Parents in particular, will encounter many; yet that is not to say that most parents are Christians. Indeed, all things considered, I believe Christians are a minority, a people with a peculiar faith. The visible church is huge; many even consider "Judeo/Christian" as the predominant mental framework of the Western world, which sets the agenda for much of what is considered "modern". For instance, I am undecided about polygamy, but I am glad that wife beating is now not only frowned upon in most countries, it is actually illegal. But then again, so much of Christianity is concerned with the invisible rather than what can be seen with the fleshly eye.
Back to relationships… I get occasional parenthood exposure when I interact with my two nephews. They're lovely boys, though somewhat spoilt by my parents who have taken it upon themselves to care for them after my sister's divorce. There is so much I want to show and teach them; yet sometimes this cause is frustrated because there are instances when they are not interested, or that I cannot share something in particular as yet because they are not ready.
I cannot approach them if they reject me; if they are disobedient and defiant, I cannot come close. Knowing full well that their course leads to disaster, I can try to approach them again, ultimately even use the cane... Westerners are squeamish when it comes to the rod, and I have friends who classify it as child abuse; my advice is, don't be too sure. I shall write on child discipline another time. Alternatively, if I don't love them enough, I can do the easiest thing: leave them be.
And if one is more defiant than the other, so that I get more pleasure from interacting with one who is keen to learn, is the more defiant of the two boys then less precious to me? No. Both are precious. Which is why it irks me considerably that my parents sometimes (with no ill intentions, thinking it a harmless thing) proclaim that B is my favoured nephew, the "uncle's pet". This can potentially alienate L from me, and even make him think that I am a third party, robbing him of his brother. Nothing can be further from the truth, as both are equally precious to me.
I cannot overstate the fact that I am undeserving of God's forgiveness; and I am comforted by the parable of the prodigal son, that when the latter returned to his father, his father rejoiced to greet him. Even more comforting, is while I am finite and was tempted to leave my nephews be, God is infinite, and will never forsake us, even as we are too eager to forsake Him.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Customs Woes
In the same way that we cannot fathom the thought processes of the mentally retarded, the workings of the local immigration service is likewise lost on me, and indeed a lot of people. I just can't understand why it takes so long to stamp a few pages, check faces, and do that little thing with the computer that the officials do... if matters are already computerised, how difficult is it to clear cars and people waiting to cross the causeway for whatever reason they might have? Instead, the jams at the causeway checkpoints between Malaysia and Singapore are always so bad, it's got people muttering murder.
But perhaps i've been hasty. No disrespect to the state employees doing the best that they're capable of, given the tools and training they've been issued (whether it's part of Asian manners, an actual legal requirement, prudence or whatever, this “no disrespect” clause is a given when discussing public affairs and officials in Singapore, and I shan't be found wanting), but perhaps it can't be helped. Perhaps customs clearance the world over, at least in places where people actually care enough about doing it right, needs to be done at a ponderous pace to for it to have some meaningful effectiveness.
But again i say, i don't understand and don't know, what it is these customs guys do. My only participation in all this, which should entitle me at least a grouse, is sitting in my car on “neutral”, for too, too long, along with hundreds like me, burning fuel, boiling tempers and going no where. And even then, i thnk truck drivers get it worse...
Not pointing fingers, but it's a deplorable situation. Movement is the lifeblood of the world. Be it capital or blood, if either of these stays still, what we've got, is stasis, or a bruise. Perhaps things need re-thinking. Maybe we could look to the library service... they've got lots of stamping to do, no? Well they seem to have worked out the kinks and you don't see queues that often these days. But then again, maybe it's because most people hit the public library for a place to nap in cool quiet. And there's no stamping required for that.
But perhaps i've been hasty. No disrespect to the state employees doing the best that they're capable of, given the tools and training they've been issued (whether it's part of Asian manners, an actual legal requirement, prudence or whatever, this “no disrespect” clause is a given when discussing public affairs and officials in Singapore, and I shan't be found wanting), but perhaps it can't be helped. Perhaps customs clearance the world over, at least in places where people actually care enough about doing it right, needs to be done at a ponderous pace to for it to have some meaningful effectiveness.
But again i say, i don't understand and don't know, what it is these customs guys do. My only participation in all this, which should entitle me at least a grouse, is sitting in my car on “neutral”, for too, too long, along with hundreds like me, burning fuel, boiling tempers and going no where. And even then, i thnk truck drivers get it worse...
Not pointing fingers, but it's a deplorable situation. Movement is the lifeblood of the world. Be it capital or blood, if either of these stays still, what we've got, is stasis, or a bruise. Perhaps things need re-thinking. Maybe we could look to the library service... they've got lots of stamping to do, no? Well they seem to have worked out the kinks and you don't see queues that often these days. But then again, maybe it's because most people hit the public library for a place to nap in cool quiet. And there's no stamping required for that.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Singing in Church
I'm pretty old-fashioned with regards to music in church, and am thankful that the one i attend only has a very limited (relatively speaking) repertoire in praise of God, comprising psalms, and hymns. Limited in the sense that we're not very adventurous and would baulk at say, Christian Rock, Christian Jazz or whatever. But still, it's better than singing some three-line thing and repeating it over and over, which in this day passes for devotional music in not a few churches.
But let me leave church music proper for a future post; its importance warrants exlusive treatment. Here, i should just like to comment on the singing. I don't know if many Christians realise this, but singing in church is an act of sacrifice/service to God. It is a part of worship. As the heathen offer incense, meats, etc., to their particular gods and deities, Christians offer up our voices to God in worship.
What does this entail? For me, several things. The singing is not about us, but God; so any egoism should be purged. We should not be carried away with technique, flair and polish of execution; but rather, focus on devotion. In singing too loud, too fast, or too slow, we sing for ourselves. So i would urge to sing in harmony. And i notice that there are people who sing half-heartedly, just going through motion while their minds are elsewhere (we cannot see thought bubbles but it's not impossible to tell when someone is distracted; and have we not been guilty of this at some time ourselves?), and there are also others who cross their legs when singing in church. Do we cross our legs when we talk to our superior at work, or at job interviews? We don't. All the more then, that when worshiping God, we should be a little more mindful about our posture.
Of course, these are my personal views; just that taking singing in church for devotion and worship requires that it be done in seriousness, sobriety. I don't think worshipping God is a thing of levity, and so the same applies to the singing.
But let me leave church music proper for a future post; its importance warrants exlusive treatment. Here, i should just like to comment on the singing. I don't know if many Christians realise this, but singing in church is an act of sacrifice/service to God. It is a part of worship. As the heathen offer incense, meats, etc., to their particular gods and deities, Christians offer up our voices to God in worship.
What does this entail? For me, several things. The singing is not about us, but God; so any egoism should be purged. We should not be carried away with technique, flair and polish of execution; but rather, focus on devotion. In singing too loud, too fast, or too slow, we sing for ourselves. So i would urge to sing in harmony. And i notice that there are people who sing half-heartedly, just going through motion while their minds are elsewhere (we cannot see thought bubbles but it's not impossible to tell when someone is distracted; and have we not been guilty of this at some time ourselves?), and there are also others who cross their legs when singing in church. Do we cross our legs when we talk to our superior at work, or at job interviews? We don't. All the more then, that when worshiping God, we should be a little more mindful about our posture.
Of course, these are my personal views; just that taking singing in church for devotion and worship requires that it be done in seriousness, sobriety. I don't think worshipping God is a thing of levity, and so the same applies to the singing.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Literal or Figurative?
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” John 1:1-4
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:14
“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63
One of the questions that keeps coming up among Christians, is whether one should read the Bible literally, or figuratively. Loosely speaking, the ultra-conservatives preach the former – hell, the great flood, the resurrection, etc., are all real; whereas Christians of the more modern ilk take greater liberties with the scriptures, such that bits in the Bible that are hard to imagine, to reconcile to our conventional understanding, or to stomach with contemporary sensibilities, are understood figuratively.
It is beyond my ability to quote many references, so let me leave this to the reader; but i shall like to offer an answer/perspective by bringing your attention to the verses quoted above. The Word is Christ. How then do we understand the Bible? For a friend, say, the more we know him, the more we're clear when he's being serious, when he's kidding, or when he's being ironic. In the same sense, the more we know God, the closer we walk to Him, the more we know when He should be understood in the literal sense, when it whould be figurative, when God is approving of something, when something is merely being described as a ppoint of information, etc.
Thus it is futile to adopt or construct a 'rule' via which to interpret the Word of God, but that our understanding should be God-centred, that is, based on communion and relationship with God. So literal or figurative? My answer, if you must, is neither.
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:14
“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63
One of the questions that keeps coming up among Christians, is whether one should read the Bible literally, or figuratively. Loosely speaking, the ultra-conservatives preach the former – hell, the great flood, the resurrection, etc., are all real; whereas Christians of the more modern ilk take greater liberties with the scriptures, such that bits in the Bible that are hard to imagine, to reconcile to our conventional understanding, or to stomach with contemporary sensibilities, are understood figuratively.
It is beyond my ability to quote many references, so let me leave this to the reader; but i shall like to offer an answer/perspective by bringing your attention to the verses quoted above. The Word is Christ. How then do we understand the Bible? For a friend, say, the more we know him, the more we're clear when he's being serious, when he's kidding, or when he's being ironic. In the same sense, the more we know God, the closer we walk to Him, the more we know when He should be understood in the literal sense, when it whould be figurative, when God is approving of something, when something is merely being described as a ppoint of information, etc.
Thus it is futile to adopt or construct a 'rule' via which to interpret the Word of God, but that our understanding should be God-centred, that is, based on communion and relationship with God. So literal or figurative? My answer, if you must, is neither.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Jiang Meiqi 江美琪
I feel I ought to say something about this matter; I owe her this much at least, for the pleasure she has given me through her soul-rending music -- I am talking about Jiang Meiqi, one of my favourite singers in Chinese Pop. She has a most beautiful voice, but for some reason, she's never quite hit big time, even if people generally have praise for her work.
Perhaps it's because she's not impossibly pretty -- at least in the conventional sense, which seems to be the necessary ingredient for pop starlets that the record industry wheels out like pretty confections on a conveyor belt.
But Jiang Meiqi is pretty. A bit on the tanned side, and she looks ordinary even; there's a certain willfulness in the shape of her jutting jaw and lips, and her nose is a little too large. But what an ensemble they form with her eyes, which are large, full of emotion, vulnerability and yet an utter absence of self-consciousness. A picture of perfection in imperfection, I would say. Of course, I'm biased. And from the looks of album sales and her non-existent career, this perception is largely my own.
Such a pity for me, really, cos I like her music lots -- such a melodic voice, with a clarity comparable to Kit Chan's (another singer I like) but warmer, rounder, impregnated with a greater sense of doubt, haplessness and longing. When I listen to her songs, my heart aches. And what more can one rightly ask of music? So I still kick myself to this day, for missing an interview with her when she was doing some school concert tour in Singapore a few years ago to promote her album. I was supposed to interview Jiang Meiqi for FHM -- I was a staff writer then. But I couldn't go because two weeks (I think) before the interview, I crashed a car, uprooting a lamp post, and when the day of the interview came, I was still nursing a terrific black eye, and one side of my lips was numb. No kissing required at interviews of course, but a black eye is no fitting conversation piece.
Oh well, zip back to the present, to 2008, on my birthday. And feeling a little rough for wear -- 38 years, firmly in mid-life crisis zone, no? -- I was looking for a nice CD to play, and chanced upon one of Jiang Meiqi's later albums. Not one of my favourites, which i bought a few years ago and put aside after playing once or twice. Much as I love Jiang's music, I have not played them for quite a while, partly because EMI is shit and their CDs tend to skip. But before long, with the CD spinning in the shitty Samsung deck, I was feeling that familiar ache again (I shall write about heartaches in a later post). The low and behold, uncannily enough, Track 5 came on, "Happy Birthday"!
Oh my. "Cheek to cheek, I just want to be close to you, I want to sing you a song... I whisper into your ears, 'May all your dreams come true,' because it's your birthday." Oh my. Thanks. From Singapore, and you won't know who I am, but Jiang Meiqi, I hope all your dreams come true, too. Live well.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Gintama
It's an ongoing series based on a popular manga, so on some days, i find myself in a state of withdrawal as I wait for the fan groups to work out the subtitles. Excellent stuff and so off-beat, with the funniest dialogue, and the subbers have done a brilliant job, including the wealth of contextual information and cultural references. In brief, it's centred on the life and adventures of the members of an odd-job agency (more like a surrogate family), who are more than what they'd care to admit, set in a Japan that melds sci-fi (alien oppressors, spaceships, thinking robots) and post-Samurai era where the carrying of swords have been banned except for the police and militia (sort of like Samurai X, or the period of the Meiji Restoration, where samurais were forbidden to bear their swords...). This is done wonderfully, and besides, it's such a wonderful metaphor for change, the hazy transition period between the classical age and a subsequent one taking shape at breakneck speed.
Cut it short, some memorable lines from the series:
"The land of samurai. it's been ages since our country was called that..." is how the narration begins
"An employee who can't use a register is as useless as a mom who can't make fried rice," Gintama picking his nose, riding a scooter.
"The fun's in the jourey, so let's see it to the end, just as a girl becomes a woman!" Gintama chasing a truck on his trusty scooter...
"I don't care if he's loin-cloth masked or an underwear thief; we can't let this man continue to sully women's innocence and mock the pride we men hold dear!" Konda, Shinsengumi commander briefing his men on catching the underwear thief.
"A girl in love is the same as a wild boar. she's only looking ahead."
"Idiots in their own idiotic way have their own idiotic worries!"
"For men, once your lower hair starts growing, you have to start taking care of yourself," Gintama on boys coming of age.
"Wandering in space with my father and becoming the greatest alien hunter in space is my dream."
"Apparently, it's good for your health to have moonlight shining onto your butt hole... Apparently, sun also works, but moonlight's even greater... Hattori-san apparently cured his hemorrhoids this way." Two henchmen chatting.
"Women are all born from compost bins. We're fighting against flies flying arund us." Referring to men.
"Your ass?! How can you care if someone touches your ass? Do you know why your ass is split in two? It's so that it'll still be fine even if one side is touched!"
"Not quite. Asses, you see, are the remaining proof that humans were once angels. They used to be wings."
"A life without gambling is like a suchi without wasabi!"
"Aah what shoud i do from here on in?
if you aren't the one who will love me?
Aah even though my heart is heavy
my body is still fine, so I'll laugh today too!" theme song lyrics...
"The future of Gintama is still undecided... undecided is only undecided and not what is decided upon." Sounds like Greek. And so ends the first year's episodes.
Yet more...
"Maybe, after you grow a little more... and you still remember about me... Come find me again. i'll be glad to do more things with you then."
"laugh a lot, cry a lot, and grow to become an adult. I'll be waiting." Gintama to a toddler who takes to him.
"Xxx civil servant, eat shit!" song lyrics in the anime.
"As expected of someone who squirts liquid medicine up his ass everyday, your aim is perfect." A ninja with a haemaroid problem is complimented
"Well then, if i shove you into this beam of light that contains all of Edo's energy, even your tiny soul would burn, right?" Gintama to a robot...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
