EARTH STATUS REPORT 2006

I got a little irked about a conversation that ensued in a lecture class we had this arvo. The issue started with Outcomes and Policies for 'National Education' (I don't know what that is except talking about Singapore) and had winded itself to raising dissapointments and sympathies over the recent GST hike. People were upset because they felt "GST wasn't going to help the poor" as the politicians claimed it would.

Seriously speaking, what are the odds of some of these people having 'helped the poor' recently? I wish I could say I did, (Oh yes, maybe the time I bought a sarong from a street vendor in Thailand and then bargained it down. Not because that 50 cents really made a big difference to the already cheap merchandise but because that was the culturally right thing to do. See, I was giving him business. Gah.) Seriously though, its been such a while since I did anything genuinely helpful for them that I thought I should keep my mouth shut on the matter. It's not as if I do as much as I should about it so why should I be griping that the infrastructures in place arn't?

And it may be hilarious that the GST reflects Singapore's first world nation status but our salaries are apparently being compared to the developing nations. But as the earth status report kindly shows, we are STILL immeasurably fortunate.

Yes, life's a bitch, the world is unfair and all the variations of these problems exist in the rest of the countries but thank God (and here's why I moved to Singapore) there are jobs to have in this country if only I wasn't so picky and would do it; I have a stable job, in politically safe country where medical facilities are reliable and there is freedom of religion and a cultural smorgasboard of immigrants, the leaders in this country arn't going to revoke my pay anytime soon and if they blackmail me about having to pay taxes to own cars, then at least they are upfront about it. In Myanmar, you buy the car and THEN a couple of years later when the coffers are empty, they tell you that there will be a tax when it suits them.

Of course there are problems but the problem is also me and change should start with us, the individuals. Honestly though, when was the last time I did anything useful to make a difference to the 'poor' and what can I do for them here?

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Earth Status report - 2006

If the population of the Earth was reduced to that of a small town with 100 people, it would be 57% Asians, 21% Europeans, 14% Americans, 8% Africans. Of these, 52% will be women, 48% men; 70% will be coloured-skins, 30% caucasians.

6 people would own 59% of the whole world wealth and all of them will be from the United States of America.
80% would have bad living conditions
70% would be uneducated
50% underfed
1 would die
2 would be born
1 would have a computer
1 (only one) will have higher education
(how many people do I know who don't have some form of tertiary education?)

This morning, I woke up relatively healthy, more fortunate than the 1 million people that will not survive next week.

I have never suffered a war, the loneliness of the jail cell, the agony of torture, or hunger. I can enter a church without fear of death or jail, unlike 3 million other people in the world.

I am richer than 75% of the world - there is food in my fridge, I have shoes and clothes, a bed and a roof over my head. I have some money in my bank and even less in my wallet and some coins in the money-box, but I still belong to the 8% of the people on the world, who are well-to-do.

I don't belong to the 200 million people on this planet who cannot read and I am that 1 out of a 100 people who have a computer. An apple, mind you. I guess that should be a third of all computer users who have gained the truth.

Perspective, people. Perspective.

Speaking at the MNM-Church "LIVE" from Singapore

Excitin' timez!

After many weeks of discussions on logistics, I finally got a feed into the Monday Night Mini-church. Man, its was a little like being back home. I got to pray for dinner right before bentos and got a tour of Fukai's (not so) new place.



We figured out for it to be better, Dave needs to get a fish-eye lens on his i-Sight to give me a 360degree perspective on church. It was good to be praying with them, eating with them, laughing with them, even watching The Visual Bible: Matthew with them.


I've made it on The Wall of fame!

SHINE LIKE THE STARS

Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever. Daniel 12:3

I've been reading the Book of Daniel over the last two months and I finally got to the last chapter today. The first half of the book is the story of Daniel and how useful he gets to the Kings in Babylon. Exciting stuff, stories.

The second half of it are his prophetic dreams and visions. There's interesting too, lots of imagery and sci-fi stuff almost but a bit harder to find as engaging as the stories in the first half. I like the OT. Lots of stories. I like stories.

It was intriguing the things that Daniel was seeing and vaguely knowing that this visions did come through. It would have been so insightful to go through the history of civilizations with the book of Daniel as your guide. But hard work.

I guess I was wrong when I supposed I had less to learn from the second half than the first. God - 1, me - nil.

There's all the stuff I can confirm and learn about how 'though we are in the world, we do not wage war like the world does...' (2 Cor 10:3) our fight is against demonic strongholds, princes of this world and our weapon is prayer. Daniel prayed and this is what he found out, that the answer to his prayers were delayed because there was a prince of the kingdom of Persia who withstood Jesus (a man clothed in linen), that Michael, of of the chief princes aided him so Jesus could answer Daniel's prayer; that the prince of Greece would also come and that Michael was Daniel's prince, in charge of God's people. (Dan 10:12-13, 20-21, 12:1). What we think is happening up there, is real! Jesus, in the appearance of a man, told Daniel so!

BEING WORLDLY

There are moments when i get the time to think about it i just want to go somewhere 'new' and live for while... despite the hardship, the prospect of being a foreigner is just so appealing to me. I want to go live somewhere I've never lived for three months or six... live a different kind of life, just the way I like it while I can cause its some place new.

Yet, I will be here for another 3 more years. I'm not completely bummed about the choice I made to be here so I can be here learning new things useful to take away to other places later and to be with family for awhile.

But I think God has just given me this heart for world cultures...

RINGING THE MISSION BELL

iWant

iWant. iWant. iWant

I CONFESS TO BLIND ELITISM

I am my own enemy. I was just lamenting to some girlfriends yesterday about a breed of persons, the "smug marrieds" who are part of a larger subset of culture which have grown up so well catered for (just less than a silver spoon) that they have a blind confidence that comes off as cocky. Part of me wondered if it was because I was envious of what they got that I didn't and that was unfair or because I just "knew better".

Today, I said something really dumb and very revealing about myself in one of my classes.

"Only 20-30% of Singapore's population that are graduates"

"Then why does it seem like there are so many graduates?"

"Because that's the make-up of the social group you mix in."

I'm such an elitist and I am so blind to it. And here I was priding myself in working hard to become "local" here. The thing is, as much as I may have grown to dislike this subset of people, the reality is that I know them because I know them. I am part of that social group; I was brought up within that class. I am them.

To become "local" was some sort of noble goal to meet the average man on the street and learn stuff from him about his views on life and culture and living in Singapore - the way I would in Australia and Japan. Somehow, its easier to do it there than here. Why? Honestly, finding that here is a very uncomfortable place to put myself and perhaps that explains why I don't really know where I fit in anymore.

I grew up in that middle-class subset in this country, lived and breathed the very average life in other countries and learnt a lot in that difference and now, I can't find my place in either group back here. But it still doesn't excuse that elitist comfort zone I nest in.