they-we? world without strangers?

wow. we studied about the world becoming a village nearly 15 years ago in school...then globalisation shifted from the imagination to the immediate. living in singapore - eager to maintain our economic security, and welcoming people from many lands onto our shores; i meet them everyday. from the foreign worker to the expat wife, from the chinese national to the ang-mo (caucasian).
it seems like the world - not its dream destinations - but the real world - the people - are right at our door-step. and it gets uncomfortable. i am no xenophobe and generally love adventure and the excitement of meeting people. but today i caught myself short.
a filipino lady was on the same bus as me. she wanted to get off near bishan park. that's all fine except bishan park is a huge stretch with several stops. i wanted to talk to her and help her clarify where she should actually get off. instead i sat there and watched as the bus driver told her to get off at the first stop of the park, 'this is bishan park la!' i felt tired. without thinking, my system knew well that this will not be a fun, easy conversation. i will need to work at understanding her and making myself understood. plus, after all the effort, it may actually not help her. so i sat there and just hoped she did get off at the right stop.
world without strangers? i think not.

the loving and gay thing to do?

i sent this into our national paper, The Straits Times after one correspondent wrote about how his lesbain friends were to him 'model citizens' and suggested that if singapore wants to be a global city, she must be more tolerant and accept gays.

Subject: the loving thing to do

I am married and have kids; a girl and a boy. Both marriage and raising children are hard work.

The funny thing is Devan’s friends seem to have it all. What a sweet picture he has painted of his lesbian friends. Interestingly, they are high achievers with, I would suspect, quite a bit of money on their side. Artificial insemination is no polyclinic deal. I am not sure what bases Devan uses to hold up his friends (they sure sound impressive) as model citizens either. If having a partner, a job and kids; paying taxes, and being religious is it; Singapore is full of model citizens really.

While the verdict is not yet out on the genetic basis for homosexual tendencies; there is ample evidence that gender differences have genetic foundations that began in utero. I have a daughter and a son. My method of child-raising is not gender based; but voila, they are simply different. Just watch my girl pat the cat and my son (er..) pat the cat!

The argument for love is always so winsome. In our world so torn by conflict, violence and violation; we all long for love. Unfortunately, love is interpreted as being tolerant. The question is who gets to determine what is considered tolerant? Will we be more liberal if we tolerated incest, under-age marriages, cohabitation, blended families and so on? Tolerance is a poor substitute for love and peace. True love and peace is not no-holds-barred. No parent in the right mind can raise children, no society can run and persist, no great ideas can blossom – if all we have is free rein.

Yes there is much that is wrong in our world. But the loving thing to do is to embrace the broken-ness and work for the healing. I believe that the broken-ness of our world has its origins within each one of us. Perhaps if we can embrace ourselves – not just as egos; but as belonging to something larger; that in our interdependent world, our choices impact others, we can think deeper and harder about life and our choices. Perhaps if we can embrace ourselves – and see that from alcoholism, to violence to sexual tendencies – we are all spots on a huge continuum – and yet each one of us has much to offer the world. Perhaps if we can embrace ourselves – and see our lives as gifts to each other; and not get fixated in the game of tit-for-tat; limiting ourselves to only a certain vision of life….perhaps…

and can it be?

i borrow the famous line from Wesley's hymn - well - because he just said it so well! doesnt life give you moments when you just ask, 'and can it be?'
it's something beyond the scope of experience, explanation, and frame-able referencing...like, if you suddenly believed you need to step away from a job, losing title, status, stability...and you are filled almost with a sense of awe about it. between the awe and the dread that you will fall thud! on the hard ground of reality - i can only gasp in open wonder, waiting for things to unfold and my own heart to flutter to a place of rest; 'and can it be?!'
you got a 'and can it be' to talk about?