Indeed, indeed... it has been an extremely long (almost) two weeks since I visited this blog to say something. After many days of traveling, speaking, meeting people - basically working - I'm now back in my home in Seremban with the family.

It's a peaceful night and I refuse to entertain any considerations pertaining to ministry and work. Not tonight. Tonight is a night for peace and tranquility. If this is the one moment for which I have done all my travelling, I'd say it has been well worth it.

It's strange how many people spend their lives chasing things which they'd only end up finding undesirable or ungratifying. A good example of this are fame and fortune. Fame and fortune are truly illusions that trap only the gullible deluded minds of the world.

For those whose feet are firmly planted on the ground, they understand that the ultimate importance in life is to be found in the people who truly know you - the wife who stands at the doorstep of your home to greet your return, the parents and sibblings who can't wait to hear stories of your travel adventures, the kids who pounce on you for extended cuddles, and the dogs who can't stop jumping in glee at the master's return. That's where, in a real sense, you can truly find God.

So, yes... it is strange how we devote such significant parts of our lives endeavouring to develop images of fame and fortune, position and recognition, around people who hardly know us and who're probably not interested to know the real us. In the process, we leave behind those who have deeply come to understand who we are and keep on loving us anyway.

All that glitters is not gold. What we mistake for gold may just be candy bars in golden wrappings.

What man thinks is a desire for fame and fortune is actually a desire to be known and to be loved. If we open our eyes, we may just find that what we've been searching for is actually already there around us. But few ever learn it in time. They are to be pitied.

I have a family that knows me and loves me - I am therefore the most famous and fortunate person in the world. That is my treasure.

Posted by SK at 11:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Thinkativity :

What is so great a virtue in choosing to trust? It is this: in all trust, there is a possibility of betrayal.

Posted by SK at 2:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Is the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) composed of thugs and gangsters who mentally and emotionally abuse those under its interrogation?

Inasmuch as many today are inclined to think so, I do not. It would take a bunch of imbercilic fools to act that way even when knowing that they are under the constant scrutiny of public eye.

It seems to me strange that the very public which seems to "see through" the "cheap propaganda and publicity stunts" of the ruling government fails to recognise cheap shots of oppositional propaganda when it takes place under its very nose. It allows itself to fall prey to the sympathy campaigns of opposition parties.

I think it is now time for the opposition parties, who have been given the opportunity to form the ruling governments in various states, to begin establishing their own credibility through supreme performance; not by cajoling public sympathy through cheap shots like playing victim in MACC interrogations. Public sympathy can only get you so far, but becoming governments marked by true integrity would give you the moral right to be the governments you claim you can be.

For the record, I am not an avid government supporter - absolutely not!. And inasmuch as I would like to be able to say I'm in support of the opposition parties, I cannot either. For you have yet to prove yourselves. All I have seen from you so far are public demonstrations and riots, falling down and bleeding before the media, and goodness knows what next.

For now, I wouldn't vote the ruling government. Neither would I vote the opposition parties. I just wouldn't vote. Until someone deserves a vote.

Posted by SK at 12:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Thinkativity :

The one thing the people of this world sorely need is guts. Guts to believe and to stand up for what we believe.

Posted by SK at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by SK at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Over the past couple of years, one very important lesson I've learned is that some people, because of the extent of their brokenness, have no capacity to live in community. They are dangerous to be with because they threaten to compromise your dignity and value, and at times, actually do.

Some such people actually do realise their inclinations to do such things towards those who co-exist among them, but are powerless to stop themselves from doing so. There is such a need to prove themselves right, show themselves more righteous than anyone else, and establish their dominance over others (at times even over those in higher authority than themselves).

At moments when they find themselves having to give in to others, they find themselves drowning in an array of emotional non-acceptance. To prevent themselves from drowning, they have to once again establish themselves to be the ones in control of the situation, and of life in general. So they begin asserting control by punishing those others around them.

There is only one way to approach people like that - stay clear. Staying clear of them is the only way, not because they are bad people by nature (just broken), but because they will never be able to rid themselves of that need for control and the consequent tendency to abuse those who do not play the game by their self-established rules. Profound denial of the problem is endemic to their condition. Therefore, the rules of the game just tend to keep changing as is convenient to themselves, so others could never keep up if they tried. Standards that such people apply to others are not applied to themselves.

It is God's divine design that we all exist in solidarity with the ontological nature of the Holy Trinity. But in our state of sin, many are not able to survive emotionally in a life with community. And others, for the sake of their own survival, have to also stay clear of this one who perceives himself as "victim".

There are more such people around us than we think. It pays to be cautious and to not rush into any form of alliances with people who appear over-friendly or over-zealous about their relationships with you. One needs to be as shrewd as a serpent in order to have the developed skill of looking through pretenses and knowing when to stay clear.

This entry isn't about hostility. It is about basic wisdom.

Posted by SK at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)