when our logic fails us

if we are honest, our brains often hit a limit. what is a brilliant, even heroic thought can be scratched further to reveal serious flaws...a moment of illumination can only bring light when subjected to hours of scrutiny. For example, the famous "how can God be powerful and loving if he sends people to hell?"
it sounds logical but then...begs several deeper questions, such as:
what does it mean to be powerful? what does it mean for God to be all powerful? what kind of power would that be?

Ditto to loving.

Just that today, we live so fast and have so much info overload we have learnt to tune out - and alas, we have successfully tuned out a bit too much i'm afraid. We land in quicksand security. Not solid, not stable, and really not safe!

We have got to be more than our coffee preferences, laptop model, fashion statement, even issue/campaign devotion. After all, we yearn for so much more!

what a start!

on the 9th day of the new year and everything looks ... (complete the sentence for yourself!)
for the first time in a long while i went out for supper...early on new year's day. when we got back; we thought we would check in to see how the major cities are partying to welcome the new year (i still dont get why we do that?)...then we got the news: fire in Bangkok and soon enough... one of us has passed on..
i am sure parties are designed to take us out of the gloom and humdrum of life give us a lift, escape, sense of adventure and some kind of wishfulness...
But
within every heart and into every national psyche a fear has invaded us like never before.
i remember feeling nervous when i was 15 and people were talking about a nuclear holocaust.
15 years later, we have that possible threat and more.
*the invisible hand of price that the great economist promised would regulate things for us rational beings did not.
* it's not a few people in power that can press the wrong button and kill us; it's many of us killing each other today with compromise, corruption, hatred and vengeance

Naturally i shield these things from my kids or share it with them very carefully. No child needs to grow up feeling frightened and powerless.

And then yesterday's papers tell of grievous things that happen when our hearts are troubled: an abused child, a beat up youth ....right here in safe, sensible, practical Singapore!

we can hope these things do not hit us, that we wont be at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people..we can pretend we are not afraid and chase a wild time..we can rant and rave...

or we can grief for our kind.
look inside out hearts
look for help

and then we can party, truly party - for time is short; and life is worth living fully, freely and well.