Cloud Viewing

When I was a small (in terms of age, not size...OK, size as well) boy, I loved to stare through and out of the car window to observe the clouds in the sky (of course clouds are in the sky, where else!?). I would use my imagination to see the clouds as different objects. Sometimes, I would see dinosaurs, sometimes an old man with a sad face, sometimes a herd of sheep etc.

It was always fun to do so. Sky is the limit as you could 'make' anything out of the clouds.

Few days ago, I unintentionally revived this ancient tradition. Boy, it was still as enjoyable as ever.

I am going to do this more often. So next time if you happen to sit in the same car with me and you see me (as a passenger) looking out quietly and intently, you know that I am doing my cloudy meditation.

Thank God for clouds, they make my day.

Playing with Power

While reading this post, Walski's political Theory of Diminishing Integrity caught my immediate attention:

One enters politics with the noble intention of contributing to society. But to get anything accomplished, one has to rise up through the ranks of his/her political organizations. In trying to rise up thru the ranks, there is a very good chance one must compromise certain personal principals. The higher one rises, the more compromise one has to make, until one has reached the pinnacle of one's traversal (subject to The Peter Principle) - but by the time you get there, the compromises you've had to have made kinda makes you forget why you entered politics in the first place. Rising up to the top has inevitably taken a life of its own, and becomes its own raison d'etre.

Amen.

Question: Is it worth compromising certain personal principles in order to reach the top (in order to fulfill the noble goal)? As you compromise your principles, you compromise your character as well. Thus, by the time you reach the summit, it is very possible that your character would have gone through deformation, and you might have long forgotten your initial intentions as the temptation of power beckons you. Who knows what happens next?

Sad to say, Walski's theory is applicable to our ecclesiastical hierarchy as well. Many Christian leaders with good intentions rise up through the ecclesiastical ranks, yet in the process, choose to compromise certain personal principles in order to reach the top. By the time they reach the summit, they forget their initial agendas and are quickly sucked into the game of politics and power play.

Think more than twice before you choose the path of power. Not everyone is strong enough to withstand the temptation of power.

"With great power comes great responsibility."

Spiderman (2002)

Only a Few

Friends. They are everywhere. You naively think that anyone who puts on a friend-ly face is your friend.

When trouble befalls you, you are confronted by the cold truth which begs you to differ.

Your creative "friends" will utilise your trouble, using it as joking or gossiping materials, without realising how hurting such acts might be.

Your self-righteous "friends" will capitalise on your trouble, using it to pull you down mercilessly in the name of justice, without realising how misinformed and prejudicial they are.

Only a few...faithful friends will look beyond the trouble and see the troubled you, a wounded soul, and readily offering you comfort and support...as what a friend will do.

You thought you have many friends, only to realise there are only a genuine few.

Thank you Trouble, for opening my eyes to distinguish friends from "friends".

Struggle of Memories

Memories. Data files of past events. Some sweet, some bitter. Some fade away gradually as time passes by, some (like computer viruses) stubbornly stand up against the test of time.

Dwelling upon memories is a luxury. You can look back at your past experiences (and yourself) from a comfortable, non-threatened distance without getting involved in them, again. You may still feel the bitterness (or sweetness) of the experiences to a certain extent, but you can smile (or laugh) at them as they are now officially labeled under the "PAST" folder.

Yet, there are memories that you just want to 'permanently delete'. Awful and excruciating experiences. And at those moments when these memories are still fresh in your memory cache, you dig deeply into your memory bank for even older memories, trying your best to overwrite the painful memories with these older memories...at least for a while.

At the same time, you struggle in hope. In hope for the future to arrive. In hope that she can be able to offer you sweeter memories.

You wait...

Hang in There

"Even the smallest light can shine in the darkness."

The Seeker (2007)

Hang in there.
God is the only light in this world of darkness.