Be Awake!

It's so darned difficult - to have to crawl out of bed at 6 am - especially when its cold and dark outside. The mind screams silently to snuggle back into the warm comforts of my bed but the alarm clock and the realities of a new day keeps telling me otherwise - Get up! Awake!

And so, begins the reluctant daily routine of most days - stumbling out of bed in the dark, feeling the cold floor beneath my feet and making my way to the living room to where the altar is. "One small step for man - One giant leap for mankind" - not!

As has been a ritual for a few years now, I light up the tea candles on the altar. Their soft light throws an ambient glow in welcoming the morning. I open the large sliding doors to the balcony. I watch the shadows of the night pass away with the coming of the dawn of a new day. It's a reluctant process, yet, a necessary one. To get out of dreams of the night and to step into the waking hours of the new day just dawning.

Which is all fine and good, but the truth is that modern life can be very unnerving, unfair and difficult for me and I suspect for most of us. I"d rather not be faced with the "truth" because truth hurts. It's painful, even though I know it is necessary for growth. So, unable and unwilling to face the hard facts of life, I choose to close my mind and instead let myself be led by gutter minds that spew out garbage at worse and which keep me forever sedated at best.

It's so contrasting with what Luke is saying in his epistle, chapter 12, verses 35-38 today:
"Be ready, dressed for service, and keep your lamps lit" (v.35)

The Christian Community Bible commentary tells of "being wide-awake; to be concerned about tomorrow's world; being aware of the truth" (pg.153 - New Testament).

"Truth? What is that?" - a chilling reminder of Pilate's own words. Well, Aljazeera this morning hit me with these realities:

"Post-election violence in Kenya included rape"
"Wall Street gripped by uncertainty"
"UN warns of soaring unemployment"

While in the land of Truly Asia, as reported by Malaysiakini, it was business as usual:

"Internal Security Act - for I Simply Arrest",
"More graft", and
"Emergency motion on new Chief Justice rejected"

Pretty bleak news - right at the break of dawn. If my interpretation of Luke is at least half accurate, it's this - that he exhorts us to work, stay awake and carry out our mission. In other words, however depressing the world may be, however difficult the circumstances of our lives are, we are called to go above and beyond ourselves, but with God's help.

We have a duty to find out. We have a duty to seek the truth. We have a right to seek justice, freedom of information and genuine peace, in our land and in the world. That's clear. That's the mandate. That's OUR mission. Not someone else. Not just the government of the day. Not the next door neighbour even though he or she may well be the state councilor or member of Parliament!.

For, as the following words by Mother Teresa reassure us: “God has not called me to be successful; He has called me to be faithful”, even as Oscar Romero, the late archbishop of San Salvador reminds us that "We are the workers not the master builder. Ministers not Messiahs. We are the prophets of a future not our own. Amen."

Startling words. Scary even. "Workers, Ministers and Prophets. Of a future not our own." But, when I let those words sink in, it becomes a little clearer. Could that be another way of saying "Priests, Prophets and Kings" - our very own baptismal promises? I would like to think so.

If that's true, then we are here not merely for ourselves but for all those who are here with us now, for all those who come after us - our children and their children. For the nature that surrounds us and its environment. For our nation and all nations under heaven.

We cannot just remain anonymous, following the crowd, playing the safe game. Because eventually, just like fool's gold, that road will only lead us to destruction. And worse, the destruction of all that we care about and all that really matters.

I'm thinking of putting up a sign up in my room - "Worker, Minister, Prophet - Of a future not my own", just to remind me, every now and then.

Here's a little "gift": Get your own free pdf copy of Romero's book "The Violence of Love" from Plough books.

Human Trafficking

I was switching channels back and forth on my Astro remote control last Saturday night, the 4th of October, when up popped this movie on the Hallmark Channel 702, with this disturbing title: "Human Trafficking".

The 2005 tele-movie starring Mia Sorvino and Donald Sutherland is a composite story of a 16 year old Ukrainian girl, a single mother from Russia, an orphan from Romania and others who are caught in the ruthless web of human trafficking and sold as sex slaves in various parts of the world.

What I saw was enough to disturb my sleep that night. I was alternating between feeling raging anger against the perpetrators and utter helplessness for the victims. Until I figured I could rant and rave all day long and it wouldn't change a thing. Except raise my blood pressure even higher. So, I did some "research" and found out things I was maybe just vaguely aware of at best, and totally ignorant at worst. This is what I found, thanks mainly to Google and another local blogger, Miss Crankshaft.

Read the sheer extent of the misery brought on by human trafficking by clicking on the following link:

• Human Trafficking.Org
  

Malaysia isn't spared either. According to one country report, Malaysia is NOT only a destination country but also a source country for human trafficking. It is purpotedly controlled by organised crime syndicates. Now, does this mean that the many children who have gone missing in Malaysia end up like these unfortunate ones too? Like Sharlinie, aged 5, who went missing in January this year, and who has still not been found. Or has something even worse happened to them? Are they still alive even, given the circumstances? It's terribly shocking and numbing.

Tenaganita, the local NGO championing the rights of women in the country highlights this in detail on its webpage.

Watch this You Tube video by Free The Slaves.net

Co-incidentally, the gospel (the Good News) for 6th October was Luke 10:25-37, about the Good Samaritan. We can draw parallels between this biblical parable and real life situations like human trafficking. There is so much misery that is going on all around us while we go about our daily routine, mostly oblivious to us. Is it because we are too caught up with our own life situations? Is it because we are cocooned within our own comfort zones? Is it because we think this sort of thing doesn't happen around us? Is it because this sort of thing will somehow "defile" us?

Both the parable of the Good Samaritan and the news contained in the websites mentioned above testify to the stark reality this is indeed the kind of world we are living in today. The sad truth is that, however we may want to avoid it, evil is right here among us, in front of us, behind us. Like what one character in the movie mentioned: "the next victim could be your own mother, sister or daughter."

Hallmark may have reminded us of that reality. The Gospel may have pointed out what we we can choose to do or not in a given situation. We have been informed. What we do with it or not is our decision.

For comprehensive action plans and information on human trafficking and how you can help, go here.

"It is impossible to help another without helping yourself, or to harm another without harming yourself" - Anthony de Mello, in "the Prayer of the Frog".