Sunday, December 31, 2006
2006 is coming to an end in half an hour's time. It has been a eventful year for me. Many things happened and I can never forget it for the rest of my life.
I would say 2006 has been a tough one. I have made many first and I have made many mistakes, things that will make me change. I've let many people down and I disappointed myself too at times. 2006 is a year of self relization and a year of reflection...
Come 2007, I will rise to the challenge. NS, and if possible, medicine. 2007 is a year of challenges for me. To all whom I know, HAPPY NEW YEAR. MAY GOD BLESS YOU!!
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Well well well... The season of giving is here! Christmas is just round the corner! What do I have to say? Very happy. This is probably the best time of the year, that's in the case of me.
Whenever christmas comes, a sense of serenity and joy always wells up inside me. I love to see the decoration lights along Orchard Road and see the shopping centres all gearing for Christmas. Every where is just immersed in this festive season and everyone seems very happy. Maybe it is the year end and everyone just got their big fat bonus.
Year after year, we have many movies coming up during the Christmas period. Most of them carry links with Christmasl. I don't know how many people actually watch them but I find many of them quite cliche to be honest. Don't really find them entertaining. Haha. Just looking at the trailer, you would know what it is basically about. Santa Claus, or someone acting as Santa, trying to make lives of the less fortunate people better, letting them feel the Christmas spirit etc. Nothing wrong with it, it's just that it is all so...similar?
There is one thing about Christmas that is very different from other festive seasons. Not that I am a Christian and I will be bias against other festive seasons or what, but all of us can see that Christmas is probably the festival that is of the biggest scale, at least in the case of Singapore. How often do you see Orchard Road being decorated in such a massive scale in other festivals? I guess probably only Chinese New Year is comparable. In Christmas, we always have massive Christmas year end sale. However, how often do you see a Deepavali sale? No offense at all. In fact, what I am driving at is a very dangerous mentality towards Christmas. Christmas is just so heavily commercialised. Why? As mentioned before, it could be because Christmas is at the end of the year, where many get their bonus. Or probably, it is the holidays, where people are in a very relaxed mood and many tourist swarm into Singapore. We just had our nine millionth visitor. People are willing to spend and they have the spending power. Such economic potential is very tempting. How then can businesses not take advantage of it? It is a money making oppurtunity! Why, it is the season of giving! Yes, I would package my product under the disguise of this 'season of giving' phrase. It will definitly lure that big fat bonus out of the consumer's pocket.
Take a look at this photo I took from the newspaper. It is an advertisment from a particular retail company.
Look at the whole picture. LOOK GLORIOUS THIS CHRISTMAS. You'd probably ask what's so bad about this picture. Nothing bad actually. I just think that it reflects the attitude many people have for Christmas. Quite a misleading one actually. Firstly, Christmas is all about one thing. You are right in saying that gifts are involved. But from a Christian prespective, there is only one and only one precious gift, that is Jesus Christ. That is the whole idea of christmas. CHRISTmas, is about God's gift, Jesus CHRIST. Baby Jesus was born on Christmas. No one knows exactly when, but Dec 25 is set as a date to commemorate this birth. So, Christmas is about JESUS CHRIST and God. Knowing this, Christians should give all glory to God. GLORY should be given to God and not we as individuals, LOOKING GLORIOUS. GLORIOUS. How mocking... Christmas is not about we buying beautiful clothes or undergarment and LOOKING GLORIOUS. It is not about us, but about Christ. See how this festival mutated over the years. First, we proclaim Jesus as God's gift to mankind. Good. Then, gift means giving. Hey, we can call it a season of giving. Sounds quite noble and nice. That's good too. Oh, I heard that there was this guy called St Nicholas that gives children presents at the end of the year. It is a tale. We can add him into the picture of Christmas, I am sure God doesn't mind. Let's call this guy Santa. Yeah. As the years go by, people want to replicate what Santa does. Give presents! Nothing bad right? Ok, let's buy many presents for people and kids. Nothing wrong with that. God wants us to share and spread joy ain't it? Man, the sales of presents is definitly high. Being a retailer, I would definitly make use of it. Santa seems to be bringing in money for me! Good! I shall put up his face everywhere and make people want to buy my stuff. He is almost like a money god to me. What's the pain in putting a little money to decorate my shop to attract people to buy stuff from my Santa decorated shop? No harm right... Unknowingly, we are stepping into this mentality, so much so we think about LOOKING GLORIOUS for CHRISTmas. CHRISTmas, GLORIOUS, we looking glorious...
Do you see it? Each step mentioned above is nothing wrong at all. It is good to give willingly as Jesus taught us so. Nothing wrong with looking good too. I myself like to look good too. However, look at the whole picture. The focus is all wrong! So so wrong. Though the actions means no harm at all, but we are shifting our focus so far from Jesus that the focus becomes Santa and gifts. Some kids even demand for gifts! The whole attitude towards Christmas is just so so wrong. Look at Deepavali, at least for many of us non-believers of Hinduism understand that it is a festival of light whereby good triumphs over evil. The focus is there. What about Christmas? I bet you many out there don't even know what Christmas is called Christmas. All they know is that it is a time to buy stuff and party and look good at these parties, look glorious... What a shame. Why is this happening to Christmas? Can we Christians do something about it? Maybe many of us Christians unknowingly give the wrong message to others as well. Is this all really about Christmas?
I will like to end of with an analogy, something I read from Our Daily Bread. Christmas nowadays is like us holding a birthday party for a baby. However, the parents find it too troublesome to bring the baby along. They think that they cannot enjoy the party with the baby around. It is so inconvenient. Thus, they leave the baby out with the nanny. They held a birthday party for the baby without the baby. Where is baby Jesus this Christmas?
NOTE: Christians brothers and sisters, let us observe the Advent and pray to focus on the true meaning of Christmas.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!
Friday, December 01, 2006
I just planted a new plant called cosmos! I will be charting their progress and I have set up a blog to share with you guys the beauty of it all. Do read about it and I placed a link to it as "My Plant: Cosmos" Enjoy!