Mind your own business

I received a forwarded sms from a friend lately that asked everyone to take off any religious article in the car such as rosary and car sticker that indicates they are Christian because people will harm you if they know that you are a christian. I ignored the sms, kept my rosary in my car and deleted the sms. Although we must be aware of our surrounding and try not to place ourselves in danger, I will not back down on this.

I am a Catholic, follower of Christ and I am proud to be so. Why should I be worry that people will harm me because of what I believe? Should I just proclaim other faith to avoid placing myself in danger? I will not, I never will. God has stand by me in every moment of my life, through good and bad, and He has blessed me with every wonderful things that has happened to me. I will do the same to Him.

Christian teachings say that we should be tolerant, forgive and love your enemy, be a peace keeper and stand up for any injustice. But there is a big different of being tolerant and being indifferent. Being tolerant is to accept other people's point of view without jeopardizing one's value and believe. For example, in a marriage life, there are always arguments, what keeps a marriage going is for both husband and wife to accept different point of view and work together to find a solution best suits both party. It is not stand back and says, "Hey, do what you like, because I don't care.".

Being tolerant is not a simple thing to do, as you need to put down your ego, evaluate both opinions and come out with a compromised plan calmly. Being indifferent is a lot easier, just back off, let the other party do whatever they want as long as you're not harmed. In other word, just mind your own business.

"Mind your own business", I always hear this term. But can we really do that? Or should we really do that? We can't and we shouldn't. We are living in a society where everything is interconnected, what happens to our political scene will transverse into our everyday living, finance, education, social welfare and security.

I used to think that politics are for big guns and businessmen, as I am only a normal middle class, there is nothing to do with me. But I was wrong, politic has everything to do with everyone of us. Unstable political scene will bring a country down like a shooting star. That is why I choose to do what I can, at least to keep myself aware of the political situation in our country, I signed a few petitions before that asked the government not to relocate the church, use of the word "Allah" in Herald and to abolish the coal power plant project in East Coast Sabah. Although that is not a major effort, but I will support any movement that speaks up my mind and stand for justice. I will not go on strike but I will do whatever I can within my own limit to stand up for justice and peace. For our good and our children's future.

God has stand by me in every moment of my life, through good and bad, and He has blessed me with every wonderful things that has happened to me. I will do the same to Him.

My life changed from the moment I took my wedding vow.

Last week, I brought my wife and my children to Alor Setar, it's a promise I made to my wife that we'll try to visit her parents at least once a year. For all the sacrifice she has made, to quit her bright career and become a "Home Minister", and to take care of our children night and day, that is the least I can do.

We fly from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur, stay a night in Puchong then fly from Kuala Lumpur to Alor Setar the next morning. I have been flying quite often since 9 years ago while studying in Melaka, and my friends used to tease me that I fly more than they take bus. But this time, I have to bring a toddler (Joel) and an infant (Amanda), with big and small luggage, I've never felt so tired flying before.

I was in Alor Setar for 4 days, while my wife and children stays back in Alor Setar for another 2 weeks. On the day when I was going to fly back to KK, I tried to feed both of my children whenever I can, tug them in whenever they're tired and play with them whenever they're awake.

Joel was specially naughty, refusing everything he normally would have wanted, throwing his pacifier to places that are hard to reach. Amanda was exceptionally cute, laughing and smiling whenever I talked to her. I guess maybe Joel somehow notice I was going to leave him for 2 weeks and Amanda is too young to notice that.

My mother in law drive me to the air port, with my wife sitting at passenger side, Joel and I was sitting at backseat. When we starts our journey, Joel rest his head on my chest, tug his arms around my waist and wasn't making any noise, occasionally making eye contact with me.

When we reach the air port, I went to check myself in, then I return to the car to say good bye to Joel, my wife and my mother in law. After saying good bye to my mother in law, hug and kiss my wife, I told Joel that I need to get back to work. I kissed and hugged him, he waved to me said, ""Bye-bye". I closed the car door walk straight up to the entry door without looking back, although I did not look back, I was constantly looking at my wife and Joel through the reflection of the glass door. I can see that Joel was throwing his tantrum, I really wanted to turn back and hugged him again, but I knew that would make things worst.

Once again, I was flying by my own just like those days before I get married. I used to enjoy flying alone, but not this time, I don't know what to do during the flight, I'm not used to sitting in the plane, getting ready for take off, then wait for landing. I don't like flying alone anymore.

My father fetched me from the air port, got back at around 1am. I looked around and I see familiar place, but something is lacking. I don't hear Joel and Amanda laughing and crying, I don't hear my wife 'reporting' her daily cores. When we were planning our itinerary, I was thinking that I can finally have a good night sleep for 2 weeks. But I was wrong, I couldn't sleep tight for whole night.

I couldn't imagine how my life would be if I weren't married and didn't have 2 wonderful, cheerful kids. My life changed from the moment I took my wedding vow.