Tag: Christianity

Faith as motivator

Faith not fanatic is one of the strongest motivators.

Fanaticism is one-dimensional one-upmanship taking to the max. Not worth paying attention to (that way, it deflated on its own). But faith propels a man beyond himself. Take Cold Mountain for instance. It gives you a chill just to relate to the character (during the Civil War, weather-beaten just to drag himself back home, to love awaiting). Or that which drove a widow with child to drop in a backward tribe to learn their native tongue and ultimately translate the Bible into that tribal language (Elizabeth Elliot).

He is no fool to lose that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

We wake up each morning (some of us wake up each evening) counting on the rising of the sun, and neutrons, protons all held together. That gravity still works.

Faith.

We read about the Crusades, the battle of the faiths. The force of beliefs went astray.

While the future pulls , faith pushes.

The challenge is to walk the tight rope between belief and reason. When discussing the Rise of the Rest, we don’t really expect to see our own Gospel of prosperity applied to all.

Tolstoy touched on the conflict between public good vs private interests (while Moscow was burning, the rich and the rest only worried about what was immediately relevant to them).

Public good and personal gratification, when conjoined, makes for a happy society.  When in conflict, hypocrisy. Instead of planning for the future, we kick the can further down the road.

This is why we cannot solve climate problems or other issues on the commons. Politics at its worst got in the way, instead of being a way. We “bowl alone” , close our doors and our eyes. Down the street, it’s someone else’s problem. (Conversely, when the Evangelicals try to play politics, they barely get pass first base even with full-page ad on the NYT).

With no institutional memories (church history was quite skewed) and talent to navigate the modern world, men of faith simply see his strength dissipate, leaving the mike for fanatics whose agenda are too distorted. The Bible wasn’t intended to be a substitute for the IRS tax code.

To decode God‘s instructions, one needs a set of “braille-like” keys, whose main code is faith, besides love ( Him and one’s neighbors). To own up to that takes up a life time.

Major not in your minor. Focus on faith, but realising that it’s not the only motivators. Other people have their own ideas of faith besides their universal and inalienable rights to pursue happiness.

From that common base, we can go ahead beyond gamesmanship. While being dogmatic, we should know that those 9/11 fighters were just as fanatic (and barbaric).

Faith remains important but needs a dose of relevance and verifiable reality, called life.

Though now see through a glass darkly…oneday we may see face to face.

Noel decoration

In front of Eden mall, Saigon, Christmas ornaments are on display. People here love to come and take pictures. It’s a tradition.

It’s their annual pilgrim, blending East and West (Noel decorationas prelude to Tet’s celebration).

Sidewalks still uneven. Tourists still trip over loosed bricks.  Yet they keep coming.

The other boulevard (Ham Nghi) with Old Market (Cho Cu) steps up to the plate, serving as a de facto alley to Le Loi, now upscaled.

Ham Nghi see all the buses, the technical school and retail shops for the natives. Le Loi, tourists.

The tale of two boulevards, born of the same period, but serving two different constituencies.

If I were a backpacker, Saigon to me would be a maze of alleys, of cheap beer and beds, knock-off goods at Ben Thanh Market and pirated CD copies. Backpackers would go on day tours to Cu Chi and Mekong Delta. Then I would never know how the rest of Saigon live and love.

A stone throw away, people hang out along the stinky canal (Nhieu Loc).

Exercise crowd early morning, and beer crowd late afternoon.

Both backpackers and natives could live on a few dollars a day. But the two shall never meet.

Different expectations, different outcomes.

One just passes through (taking in the smell and sensation), the other stays put (dropping off and picking kids up at school).

Then somehow, the week before Noel and Tet, they both conjoin, in front of a Nativity display, those pine trees and ornaments, with empty boxes underneath, but more guarded than bank vaults.

Then both tourists and natives would smile for the cameras.  Smile to record the worried faces (will next year be a better one).

The Sad Hymn is played on air, and the line sticks in one’s head “Noel nam nao chung minh co nhau” (Last Christmas we were together, but not this year).

I had a friend who died last year right after Christmas. I still remember that Noel was his last.

Sad Hymn. He used to play in the lobby of the Hyatt, just around the corner from those bustling decoration. This year, some pianist is taking up that spot, that gig, to blanket the place with classy “ambience”. Outside, throngs of tourists and natives continue to burn gasoline, cruising by to see those flashing lights. And Sad Hymn is played again and again (just like Silent Night in the States), but no one pauses to remember an old friend.

Funny how the same decoration could trigger different responses from people, regardless where they are from. We are all passing by year after year after circling the Colonial French Round-about in front of Eden Mall.

Failure as prereq

Maybe it’s just me. But people I associate with don’t seem to do well these days.

Sectors once thrived are now wiped out: telecom, housing and to some extent, publishing.

HR at HP has been busy.

We learn from failure.

By turning it into seed of success.

Success and failure leave a different taste in the mouth: sweet and sour.

To live a full life, one needs to learn how to swallow both.

Failure often accompanies loneliness. You wouldn’t go out and celebrate with others.

You lick your own wound in the dark and in isolation.

You won’t find many Yes men around to toast with.

It’s meeting-Jesus time.

Penance.

Retrenching. Redemption.

Taking inventory: what assets  vs what liabilities?

Learn to stage a return. Review the script.

Check the audition board.

They always need fresh meat for the rituals (sacrificial lamb).

What came before will come around again.

No one is born a loser.

Unless we allow the statement to stay true.

Failure is as common as a bruised knee.

Keep getting back up and ride. The balance is found in continuing motion, in trying.

Failure teaches us more than success, albeit bitter lessons in penance.

Hopefully people I know who are in a rut , know how to soon put it behind and try again, instead of fail to try.

Parting

Chicago‘s If you Leave Me Now is easy to listen to,but  hard to sing.

“You take away a part of me”.

Changes are necessary.

Progress and modernity.

More convenience, more amenities.

Full service.

One-stop shop.

Once we have upgraded to some fancy levels, our memory muscles kick in full gear. Gotta get back on top.

Taste of success.

Gotta to do it again.

One more time.

Meanwhile, it’s hard to say goodbye.

Even mediocrity has its values: that of security and stability.

But progress is triggered by self-disruption. A new way of doing things, of looking at life.

Stripping and dethroning.

The emperor without his clothes.

Hail to the chief, say the Yes men.

The right road often times is a lonely one.

Every generation got its victims (sacrificial lambs) and victors (Jay Lo  or Jay Leno).

In Oprah, we find both .

Well deserving.

Unquestionable success. Can’t argue with it.

So we leave things behind. When I was a child, I spoke like a child.

Then in parting, we reunite. In leaving “a part of me ” now, we soon find it again, face to face.

Redemptive rain

Our own Duc Huy, along with Dylan, during the 80’s, sang about “the hope of redemption” and how “the heart found joy once again”.

The 80’s was the time of culture war: right vs left, straight vs gay, East vs West, secular vs conservative.

Thirty years on, we are faced with a different set of challenges. Small potatoes now grow dominant, so do small apps.

BRICS finally emerged, while incumbents are now worried about social disparity and other larger trends i.e. gay marriage. It rained here last night in Saigon. Free wash! Free Aircon!

One cannot ignore the sound of heavy rain pounding on tin roofs. It was also redemptive: one wash sweeps all dirt.

Duc Huy resonates the longing for faith and trust.

His thoughts flow, from morning coffee to evening pavement ( that leads to the girl’s home) and display universal longing for permanence instead of temporal, eternal instead of fleeting.

Duc Huy wishes for more rain to tie down his love, for time to stand still.

That moment in time, we all experience at times, is called Kairos.

It is a mark, an event that is more significant than any others.

It reveals who we are to us.

Then, perhaps,  there is hope for redemption.

“Toi hy vong duoc on cuu roi” (I might  hope for redemptive love).

I started my opening chapters of Monte Christo.

We all know the story line. But its author first paints the perfect picture of a young sea Captain reunited with young wife, before he is betrayed, and imprisoned.

Of course, the plot will switch to revenge instead of redemption.

But that is human drama unfolded.

That is how much “dirt” we manage to produce.

Then came the rain. Redemptive rain.

One wash, all gone.

Begin anew. Hope again, trust again, love again.

Like smokers who will get a new lung after 7 years of quitting, we all are getting another shot at life. Just don’t use the same script again. It will only produce the same result. Try the opposite. From bottom and up. Outside in. Be creative. Be redeemed. Be rain makers.