Thoughts in a blender...

Yesterday, I finished the transcription of Dr Mahathir's address to my school last year. I'd recorded it on tape, and spent the last few days working on it. As I listened to his speech, many things he said resonated with me, not the least of which were his comments on the religious tensions in Iraq; it reminded me of my Extemp finals speech at ISKL earlier this year.

These were some of my thoughts alone the way:

I will not run away from this country, for the Great Commission of Jesus Christ is a call to engage all people.

The Victoria Institution is really quite a microcosm of Malaysia. Many complain that the school brings in students based on racial quota rather than academic merit. This is generally true, but I guess I've learnt to live with it; this is one of the things that makes the VI a good training ground for life ahead, especially life in this country. Even the Malaysian government is reflected in the rather fractured administration of the VI!

Being a Christian helps me understand the idea of dual identity. I am heaven-born yet earthbound, and in a similar manner, Chinese yet Malaysian.

Prejudice is evil. We are all fallen; no one race can boast superiority over another. To be sure, some races are better than other races at certain things, but what is the mark we are missing? If there were no reality outside of man, outside of this world, then survival of the fittest is everything. Not so if there is a God in whose image we were made.

* * * * *

Last week, Pn Jaya asked me to share my views on National Service with her Lower Six Bio-Maths class. I was really fuzzy in the mind that day, and barely spent five minutes in the classroom. In retrospect, I regret letting her down...

However, I do remember one question I answered. Anas asked, "Did NS make you more patriotic?" My answer was to this effect: NS doesn't make you more or less patriotic.

I did not really elaborate, but in my case, my love for the country will not be changed by a short programme like NS. Whatever sentiments I have, were built up over the last 19 years.

* * * * *

These are lines from a conversation. At many points, I couldn't quite tell if I said the words, or if the other guy did; he reminds me so much of myself.

"I need to conform to what people expect, or else I'll lose respect."

"Now I'm just an ordinary Victorian."

"In order to blaze a trail, I decided to start a Sex Club."

"It's better to be notorious than anonymous."

"I was a nerd."

"I felt I needed to finish what I started."

"I'm no longer the President of the Sex Club; I decided to pass the baton."

"I say this because I insaf already."

Of all days for an influx of sex-related stuff. First the Form Six condom case (which nearly drove Callyster into violent hysterics), then the sex-saturated conversation.

* * * * *

Why Theology? Well, it's conversational, discursive, and above all, accidental. We can only see God through many stumbles.

Sometimes I wonder what I'd think, some years hence, of the entries Soo Tian and I wrote on TM Squared.

* * * * *

Dear Miss Cheezy Wedges,

God cares; indeed He knows the plans He has for you. What may seem like coincidence to us, is really no coincidence. Albert Einstein (a scientist) said God does not play dice with the world, and Steven Curtis Chapman (a singer, which is different from a scientist) said God gives purpose to chance.

Even before you stepped into Hamidah's office, He made a way. And He is making a way for you, even before you need one. Surely the God who brought Israel out of Egypt, had already charted the course to the Promised Land of Canaan (full story in the book of Exodus). In your trials and tribulations, whether those related to a bunch of singers on a stage, or a string of numbers/symbols on a page, our Father will see you through.

Take heart!

By the way, the verse I was telling you about this morning, is Proverbs 27:14. Here's the 'radical' translation...

If you wake your friend in the early morning
by shouting "Rise and shine!"
It will sound to him
more like a curse than a blessing.

--The Message

...and the more conservative one:

If a man loudly blesses his neighbor early in the morning,
it will be taken as a curse.

--New International Version

Don't be afraid of anything. It's just a little more to go...