Humans Are Overrated

What defines us as humans? What sets us apart? Why are we so special?

It's not for our ability to love, or to stay in love. Swans mate for life, which is more than some of us can say.

It's not our ability for rational thinking. Just look at Rex, over there, hiding in the corner. He knows that if he poops on the carpet, he'd better hide. That's rational thinking for you.

We are not the only ones with an affinity to creativity, just listen to any birdsong.

It's not our linguistic capabilities, because let's face it, at the end of the day, language is about communicating and any ant, squirrel or platypus can do that. Communicate, I mean, not speak Chinese.

It's not our propensity to use tools, not our ability to lift fifty times our weight, not our partiality to living in communities, not any of these.

You may argue that freewill is what sets us apart. I disagree to a certain extent. Look at Rex. He poops on the carpet. You smack him. He goes to hide and acts sorry. When you leave, the cycle repeats. Poop, smack, hide. Sorry. Seriously, though, any animal exhibits freewill, not just ol' Rex.

I think..what sets us all apart, is our ability to hate. It is our ability to be vengeful. What sets us apart is our ability to destroy this earth that God gave us. What sets us apart is our ability to be so destructive to our own bodies. What sets us apart is our ability to wage war and kill millions.

I think that's what sets us apart.

And, of course, the fact that we have opposable thumbs.

Somedays

Somedays I just feel like drowning out the screaming silence with even louder music, somedays I just drown.

Somedays I stare at the stars in the black sky, somedays I stare at stars on my ceiling.

Somedays sleep eludes me, somedays I elude it.

Somedays I can't decide what I miss more, somedays I have a pretty good idea.

Somedays music does soothe the raging beast, somedays the raging beast is insatiable.

Welcome to someday.

Our Relevance

I had this deeply disturbing conversation with a couple of great friends just the other day, actually it was well over a week ago and since then I have been quietly mulling over (wrestling with, fighting against, waging war with, etc) how to say this without offending anyone out there.

The summary of the conversation was, and this is a very short summary of an easily hour-long conversation, why are some Christians so sanctimonious?

And this is an issue that has always been pointed out to me by my friends of other religions. No they never used the word sanctimonious (I did), no they did not shoot down Christianity, no they not try to convert me, no, all that they were was objective and curious.

'You know why your father is sick? Because he doesn't believe in Jesus.'

'You know why you met with that accident? Because you don't believe in Jesus.'

Wait, what? Because that is what the Christians in their lives tell them. And there are other comments, equally crazy and disturbing, but I won't go into it.

I wanted to write this whole post about us Christians hiding behind our relevance, about shoving our faith in other people's faces. But, come to think about it, am I any better? They and I are two ends of the same spectrum. They say what they will, shame be damned, but here I sit, only telling you about my faith when I hide behind a shiny screen...

I think both stems from the same root, but manifested differently. I, in my arrogance that I am saved and will show the world Jesus only by 'living' the faith, believing that it will be enough. No, we are not so different.

I talked to Crys about it (totally irrelevant, but how cool is having someone who you can converse deeply with?) and she showed me a video by Casting Crowns.

What This World Needs by Casting Crowns

People aren't confused by the gospel, they're confused by us.

Jesus is the only way to God, but we are NOT the only way to Jesus.

This world doesn't need my tie, my hoodie, my denomination, or my translation of the Bible.

They just need Jesus.

We can be passionate about what we believe, but we can't strap ourself to the gospel,

'cos we're slowing it down.

Jesus is going to save the world, but maybe, the best thing we can do,

is just to get out of the way.

No, I don't have a new thought to add to this mire, and I probably never will. The conclusion has always been the same. It's just that we get so caught up in our relevance that we thought we could affect the conclusion. It's always been the same and it'll always be the same.

Change: Believe It

There are a few reasons why I love hanging out with an older crowd, but foremost among them is this: they are a wealth knowledge. You can talk to them for hours, and because of their experience, they give very good insights and perspectives that one as young as me usually will not/do not see.

Our conversation veered off -not unexpectedly- from wine and food towards the state of our government today and what we can do to improve. I have to say, I always thought I was well educated, and I make it a point to keep abreast with the going ons of in this little corner of our sheltered world, but they KNOW so much that is going on in our country! Somehow, they have information that mainstream media (newspapers, radio, tv) don't convey.

They asked me why I wanted to stay here, why I wanted to fight for our nation, and they all agreed that THE NEXT GENERAL ELECTION WILL BE A DEFINING CHAPTER IN OUR COUNTRY. So please register and vote!!! Change is coming, you and I can feel it. Look around you. Are you happy with our living conditions? Are you satisfied with our government? The future belongs to you and I, and we owe it to ourselves as well as our futures to fight and make. a. change.

I truly and wholly believe that we live in a blessed land. We have an abundance in natural resources: gas, wood, oil palm, rice, industrious people. No wars, no famine, no droughts, no earthquakes, no hurricanes, no volcanoes. We can be better than what we are.

We as Christians are called to 'give unto Caesar's what is Caesar's' and to 'obey the law of the land'. Both, I believe, asks us to struggle for what we believe in by voting, and to fight for what is right in our country.

When was the last time any of us had to struggle for change? Granted, this is not an fair question, but we live as we do now because our forefathers -in name if not blood- have struggled and fought tooth and nail for us. Remember the Tiananmen Square Massacre? Led by student activists, they fought for democratic and economic change. Are we any different? Are our objectives any different than theirs? Because I know what I am fighting for: change. We are all fighting for a better tomorrow.

Look towards Mexico, President Calderon's military crusade against the drug cartels. At the epicenter of it all is Juarez. The homicide rate here is the highest in the world. Pastor Eddy (name changed to protect him) had the chance to get out of that place. This is not a man with nothing to loose, he has a family, he has a wife and a kid. He stays because he has a purpose, a God-given purpose. He stays because he believes that there will be a revival such as never seen before in the land. His church accepts former assassins and cartel members. He stays to fight for the country, to fight for his faith, even unto death. He fights for a place he loves, a place he still believes in.

Can we do any less?

Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows

There's this person I'd really like you to meet. She's this girl I met last year, the one who made the year - if I can have my way, she'll probably make the rest of the years of my life.

How do I explain it? I can write cliched words about how my heart beats erratically around her, but I won't. I can tell you that when I'm not around her time drags its feet, but I won't. I won't tell you how I feel like I've known her forever even though it's been a few scant months. I won't tell you that I'm probably the luckiest man alive. I won't tell you that I can't breathe around her, and I definitely won't tell you that when I'm not I miss her like hell.

What can I tell you? Not much I guess, other than the fact that she is everything I never thought I was looking for, everything I never knew I wanted or needed. I can tell you that she is not perfect, but we make it work despite our differences. I can tell you that she accepts my imperfections, and we thrive on our giving and taking. I can tell you that I sleep with her face in my mind, only to wake and find it's still there.

I can't tell you much, other than the fact that she's sometimes the craziest person I know, but sometimes the most logical one. I can tell you that somehow, we fit perfectly together. I can tell you that she is the only person who has ever made me rethink all my future plans, because now I don't see any future without her in it.

She makes me wonder how I ever lived all these years not knowing she existed.. She makes me wonder at all the strange - and often blind - turns I've taken in my life that have led me here, right to her front door. She makes me wish I was a better man, because she deserves no less. 

She makes me thank God for all the lessons I have learnt, however painfully. She tries hard to understand me, even though writers can sometimes be a pain in the behind to fathom. She's wiser and smarter than two or three of me combined. She puts chefs to shame with her fried omelets and probably has enough drive in her to power a third world country.

She's just...her...greater than the sum of all she that she is and was, more than what I never knew I wanted, better than anything I've ever dreamed of.

Education

I remember, in a Life Skills (ask me what it is sometime) session last year, we were asked this question:

'Why do we study?'

We all (the students) came up with great answers: to improve ourselves, to help the world, to gain knowledge, etc etc and so on and so forth. One said that it was because his parents made him study (cue laugh-track).

The one who asked the question was the Principal of the college, and she said we are all very nice kids, very noble. but we were all wrong. The purpose of an education, the purpose of studying, is so we can make money and earn a living.

I am sure she said this with the best intentions, and that she, with all her experience and knowledge, was just being a realist and trying to prepare us for when we come out into the working world.

But is that the true purpose of an education? Trouble was, we all believed her; I believed her. Oh, heavens, the foolishness of a youth...

I can't help but to wonder at us, the youth of today and the hope of tomorrow, if we all study because we want to earn money. That money is the bottom-line and that this is the purpose of spending 16 to 18 years of our lives, all of it devoted to refining the art-of-making-more-money-than-him.....

I'll leave that for you to think about, but here's a quote I find that summarises the situation well.

Education... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading.                                                                    - G. M. Trevelyan 

Goodbye

He crushed the bag of potato chips in his hand and carefully tossed it into the garbage can. Getting up, he dusted his hands on his jeans and carefully put the book he was reading, 'Tis by Frank McCourt, into his pack. He shouldered the said pack and looked at the time. It was seven thirty seven.

He thought of going into the gate early, or even getting another pack of chips to burn time but after a moment, he decided that there was one last thing he needed to do before he crossed the gate.

He walked towards the revolving doors and wondered absently to himself who was the genius who thought an electric revolving door was a good idea and why the door revolved so slowly and why not just install a normal sliding electric door as the door revolved slowly, finally vomiting its lone occupant out into the cold outside.

He stood there quietly staring at the sky, remembering the past few weeks and wondering if the spaces in between the stars could fit all the thoughts in his head, all the memories, so he won't have to lose them, because if there was a certainty in life, it is that all memories fade in time.

His breath came out in little puffs in the cold, wintry air and disappeared into the dark night. He hoped that the little puffs will remain for awhile in the air, even if unseen, he would have felt that he left a small mark in this country that he has come to love.

He knows he will never come here again, never again be here as the person he is now.

Goodbye, he says to the air, to the spaces in between the stars, hoping that they will help him pass the message along to the one he loves.

He walked back into the revolving doors, shouldering a pack on his back and a burden on his heart.

I'll see you later, then.

I'll Be Right Beside You Dear

Run by Snow Patrol

I'll sing it one last time for you
Then we really have to go
You've been the only thing that's right
In all I've done

And I can barely look at you
But every single time I do
I know we'll make it anywhere
Away from here

Light up, light up
As you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder, louder
and we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak, I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

To think I might not see those eyes
Makes it so hard not to cry
And as we say our long goodbyes
I nearly do

Light up, light up

As you have a choice

Even if you cannot hear my voice

I'll be right beside you dear

Louder, louder

and we'll run for our lives

I can hardly speak, I understand

Why you can't raise your voice to say

Slower, slower

We don't have time for that

All I want is to find an easier way

To get out of our little heads

Have heart, my dear

We're bound to be afraid

Even if it's just for a few days

Making up for all this mess

Light up, light up

As if you have a choice

Even if you cannot hear my voice

I'll be right beside you dear

The Travel-Bug Pt. 2

photo courtesy of Crystal Cha

I always wanted to travel, to leave the little bubble I call home for awhile and go somewhere unknown, somewhere new, somewhere with strange cultures, somewhere maybe even dangerous.

Somewhere I don't speak the language, somewhere off the beaten track, somewhere, unseen and unheard around the next corner. Just somewhere.

That's it. That's all there is. Somewhere.

And in the famous last words of Francois Rabelais:

I go to seek a great perhaps.

That's it. A perhaps. It may not be what I want, it may be the exact opposite. But perhaps...perhaps it will be. Be what? Be everything.

I do know this though. I am not seeking to find something, not to reach the end of the road, not to finally grasp the prize. The prize IS the very act of seeking.

And after the seeking? I don't know. But I do know this. The best part of leaving, the best part of going away in search of perhaps-es, will always be coming home.
Coming home to you.

The Travel-Bug Pt. 1

The past three weeks have been a great time. If you don't know, I am currently (only for another 4 days) in England, sleeping over at my girlfriend's place in Middlesbrough. From the headquarters here, we have launched excursions into nearby York and Whitby, as well as not-so-nearby Edinburgh, London and Oxford.

I love it. It has been quite crazy, all the running around chasing trains and time, the brisk walking to our next planned location. The culture here has been quite different, and I have been relearning my English (maybe an overstatement, but the first few days I was here I understood not a word any of the English people were saying).

So here's where I've been.

photo courtesy of Crystal Cha

York.

Taken early in the morning (before 10AM) so the streets are quiet. The building in the distance is the York Cathedral. It is a quaint little town, filled with old-book stores and little cafes/eateries. I had one of the best days here, filled with food; of special note is the Hogroast sandwich.

photo courtesy of Crystal Cha

Whitby, a fishing community known for its Fish 'n Chips and picturesque town. It was the place which inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula, and having been there I can see why. This picture was taken from the steps beside the ruins of St. Hilda's Abbey.

photo courtesy of Crystal Cha

Edinburgh, my favourite city in the world at the moment. The place was absolutely gorgeous. The city is an eclectic and heady mix of old-styled architecture, exhibited by the various statues and monuments, to a new and contemporary style. The countryside was breathtaking, all rolling hills dusted with white and the Haggis...well, words fail, but Edward Burns wrote a poem about it. It is THAT good.

photo courtesy of Crystal Cha

London, this was taken from Regents Park. If you've never been there, I suggest you go. London is the melting pot of European cultures; all of it in one place. One of the attractions of the city will definitely be the parks, and when I say parks, I actually mean small countries. The parks are humongous, there seems to be no end...Anyways, you can get any kind of food here, in London, not in the parks, if you know where to look and the public transport system is simply fantastic. I counted down to the new year at Waterloo Bridge, overlooking the Eye of London and it was amazing. I'll maybe upload the video sometime.

The final place we visited was Oxford, and it is definitely my next favourite place, behind Edinburgh. I have no photos to show yet, but maybe I will in a future post.

500 miles by The Proclaimers