If you've been around on facebook recently or have been reading the newspapers dillegently, you would probably have heard about AM and the controversy it caused when it annouced its intention to operate in Singapore. The anti-AM campaign started swiftly and a rather strong facebook protest (quite rare to see such numbers on facebook for something uniquely Singapore) caught the attention of the media and the government. It was a cause I felt rather strongly about and I too participated in this petition.
Now that it has mostly done what it set out to achieve, I look back and realise that it was actually very well executed. I must give credit to the unknown businessman who started this petition, as well as to the community who participated. The group actually emerged as one united voice and I can say that the way Singaporeans behave online, this is a milestone. Any Singaporean forums you go to would probably be filled with hate, shaming, mockery and government slamming. This group wasn't like that, and I know because I read through almost every comment made by every person. Singaporeans were talking about forgiveness. They were talking about hating the company but not the owner of the company (calling for prayers that his heart may be changed). They encouraged one another. When people infiltrated the groups and starting stirring things up, the response was firm but gentle. People acknowledged the work that government officals were putting in, recognised their difficulties and were thankful to those who stood up.
There was respect. The people didn't back down from what they wanted, but they didn't thrash talk the opposition. In my twenty years of life here in Singapore, I've seen more than enough of ugly behaviour amongst Singaporeans. This was truly one of those rare moments where I really felt proud for my countrymen.
Few people brought in religion, and it was clear that the group was intentionally meant to be secular and not representitive of any groups of people, but I felt as if I could really feel that God was at home amongst the people in their online interactions. I am hopeful, that our country one day can truly discard its less than wonderful reputation and God may indeed be great in the land.
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Dreams. The thing about them is that when you are in one, it feels like the only reality you know. Dreams offer you a chance to live a life you cannot live in reality. You can imagine all you want, you can dive into movies and virtual worlds, but it is never quite the same as when you are dreaming.
We often do dream about what we wish would be reality. In our dreamscapes we create ideal worlds that we wish we could dwell in. Our deepest heartfelt desires that sometimes feel so far away in day to day living, are for a moment as we sleep at night our only reality.
Yet, it is precisely that which tears us apart when we awake and realise that everything was just only but a dream. Dreams could well offer us the only opportunity of experiencing things we never get to in real life, but it can sometimes be heart rending when we find that it is all at the end of the day only a figment of our imagination.
And dreams fade away. You could try to grab hold of them, but as you get more conscious in your waking, things quickly slip away. Your mind recognises that they don't belong. In a while, you remember almost nothing. Perhaps just a few fragments of what you tried to keep but mostly, it all just becomes an empty vortex. And your heart sinks as you feel so keenly for all that you dreamt. Soon there is nothing but a lingering sense of all that was.
I wish I could store them and replay them like an old video, reliving the memories of this other world I lived in, if only briefly. That is not possible though, because in our everyday waking, an entire world deconstructs.
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Watching pictures posted of a couple of friends enjoying their holiday together, I do wish to have a chance to do that too. Holidaying with close friends is a very different experience from normal holidaying. I really sincerely hope that we may be able to find the time and money, no matter how difficult it may be to arrange, to go for it. It doesn't need to be somewhere expensive, but being with good company, exploring foreign lands, that is something really special.
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Today I saw something online that made me think about how little I know about the lives of some people around me, the intentions in the heart and the thoughts and emotions that dominate their mind. Sometimes we think we know it all, but we don't.
People are constantly changing. The challenges of life mould different people in different ways and if you keep an old image of who you thought they were, you may find yourself very much surprised.
I also suddenly find myself gripped with a fear that I may not have been investing enough in the lives of some of the people I do care about around me. I'm afraid that they may be feeling alone in some unknown struggle they may be facing. How sad it would be, if the people of God do not quite feel like at home in the Church. We must love one another. We really must.
I also suddenly find myself gripped with a fear that I may not have been investing enough in the lives of some of the people I do care about around me. I'm afraid that they may be feeling alone in some unknown struggle they may be facing. How sad it would be, if the people of God do not quite feel like at home in the Church. We must love one another. We really must.
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