Outsourced

Tagline:
Todd just lost his job. Now he has to find his life.

The show "outsourced" is an incredible show. It shows the journey of a man, called Tod, who finds himself sent to India because his company has decided to outsource the entire department (call centre, Order Fulfillment) to India.

The movie depicts how he gets around in India, how he hates it, then grows to love it.

I think the movie chronicles a great way to live life. Tod went to India resenting the way of life. He resents being sent to India. He hates it.

In the same way, when change happens to us, we find that sometimes, we hate it. We find it difficult to accept the new changes. We are forced into positions we cannot accept, yet have to make do.

Tod later learns to love India. In a especially poignant scene, Tod enters the river to clean up. You see him apprehensive at first, then he goes deep in, literally like a baptism, then he starts swimming and enjoying the river.

That is like life. Once we are able to embrace change, find the beauty and the life within the change, life goes on. That is what is meant by God giving us life to enjoy things. Life was meant for us to enjoy circumstances. Embrace the events that are in our life. Not all are good, even after the embrace, Tod still had some difficulty. But he learnt to take the good with the bad, the chili with the rice. Embracing life is about the good and the bad put together to make a decent experience.

Then Tod goes back to his office. He admits he was wrong in trying to run the office like an American office. He needed to make the place functional, not shoehorned into a model that did not apply.

That is like life. So many times, I find myself struggling because I am trying to reshape the circumstances to fit a model in my mind, or to make something work in the manner I know how. I fail to see that I should instead try to make the circumstances work best in the way it is meant to be.

This point applies to ministry. How many of us try to make our juniors like us? How many of us wants our youth to be like us, the good side at least. But the truth is, they will never be. They are not meant to be like us. They are meant to be them. They are meant to be the best that God made them to be. They are meant to reflect a different aspect of God from us. They reflect God, not us.

Parents want their children to be living images of themselves. That will never happen because it is not meant to be. Children should be stretched to allow them to reach their maximum potential.

And finally, the last scene. Tod succeeds in bringing down the time taken for each call to be concluded to 5 minutes, one minute below the target. His boss comes in to tell him that they are shutting down the business and moving to china. Tod is asked to go to china. He refuses, and sends his no. 2 man, while he returns to the states unemployed. Along the way, he loses the girl he loves (one of the staff there) and he returns to the states. Yet, he returns to a life. He embraces the change. He realises, he is in control of his choices.

That is life. Not everything ends well. Life does take a turn for the bad. You lose the one you love, you lose your job. Yet life does not end. Life goes on, and change has to be embraced. We choose how we would like to respond to the change. Life goes on.

That show teaches about life. It shows us that change happens, circumstances are NEVER in our control. Only our choices in how we respond to the circumstances.

$2 COE

I love that. Too bad i not buying cars.

But what i so love is how people fail to understand what exactly COE is. Read the forums and you will be so amused.

Firstly, the COE does not affect the value of your car. COE is a RIGHT to drive that particular car. A low COE will not mean lower future value. On the contrary, when your car is placed alongside other similar models, it is at an advantage because your cost of purchasing the car is low. Hence, low COE is always good.

Secondly, the car market is a strange place. How dealers work is that they will refund you the difference between the COE and the rebate level. When you look for cars, there will be a rebate level. That is the COE price they expect to pay. If the COE fell below that price, they will refund the difference. If it is above, the dealer will make good the difference, though exactly how much is not clear.

FInally, the government is not able to control the prices of COE. COE is merely the right to drive on the road. Demand and supply of such rights will determine the true value of the COE. Yes, the government can reduce the supply, but this is on hindsight. If they restrict the COE by too much, there will complaints that the COE is too costly.

At the end of the day, COE is about purchase of rights to drive on the road. It makes no sense to blame anyone except the free market about the prices, because the market will ascertain the optimal for that period, dependent on demand and supply.

Bees

First bees. Wasps to be exact. Meet this buzz.




This 'harmless' wasp was cold at around 4 am. So it decided to come into my room. Under my blanket. Where i was zzz. I moved. He stung me. I woke up, moved again, felt another painful sting on my leg. I moved one last time, and had a front row seat of this fly stinging me on my left thigh for the third time. OUCH!.

I spent the rest of the day in some pain. Oh boy it hurts, I can tell you. But thankfully it was not fatal though... Haiz.

Okie just thought it would be interesting...

Rights and Wrong

I had a discussion with a few friends in my car about homosexuality.

So we started by asking, how can we bring God’s view on Homosexual marriage into a non religious perspective. Christians know that homosexuality is wrong. Why is it wrong, and how do we tell it to the world? A world that does not believe in God? It proved to be near impossible.

No matter what argument you put forward, the ultimate response was that it was discriminatory. By banning gay marriages, by restricting any rights of homosexuals, we have become discriminatory. Our laws have become discriminatory in nature. And because it so, we have a duty as Christians to fight that law. A law that is discriminatory in nature is necessarily wrong, even if it was aimed at achieving a good end. Means do not justify an end. And if you had certain assumptions, then that law is discriminatory.

But as we debated back and forth, my friend (non Christian, not supportive nor against homosexual) pointed out that on a strictly objective perspective, Christians were restricting the rights of a free individual to make decisions that they think would be best for them. And if you did not think homosexual was wrong, then it would mean that we were indeed discriminating against a way of life.

But as we argued even more, I realised the real heart of the debate. The true argument that the gay lobby has in Singapore, is not whether they had a right to have anal sex. The gay lobby in the world is not truly fighting for marriage. What they want, and the crux of the debate is simply this question:

Is Homosexuality wrong.

The debate is coloured when we discuss about gay rights because that is not main question. If homosexuality was wrong, there would be no rights to discuss. No right to have sex, no right to engage in marriage. Homosexuality is wrong, you commit it, you are a criminal, therefore your rights are removed. What the debate has moved on is on a presupposition that homosexuality is right. And I believe that is what is happening. We are moving not towards a new world order so much as muddling up the waters sufficiently that what is right and wrong is not clear anymore.

Strip away all the deceit, pull the stops, fight back to get to the core of the debate. Is homosexual wrong. Because it started there. We moved away and started dealing with the symptoms. If we said it was right, then I’m sorry, gay marriages have to be condoned. If we argued that it was wrong, then I’m sorry, gay marriages have to be condemned. I believe gays actually know this. That is why they move away from this debate, call themselves minority, and ignore the bigger issue.

So anyway, we changed topic. We argued why homosexuality is wrong. We asked the tough questions. And there was no answer. How do you have a fair answer to the question, is homosexuality wrong. It feels natural. It’s love, pure and simple. There is no simple right or wrong.

And then my non Christian friend pointed out an extremely sharp view: Christians have a assumption about right and wrong, and derive logic from there. Non believers have no idea of right and wrong, and use logic to find it. Christians use right and wrong to find logic, non believers use logic to decide what is right and wrong.
But by definition, right and wrong is not for discussion. Right and wrong are absolutes. If we use logic to derive right and wrong, then our answers will be flawed. Do consider that philosophers, while not maintaining a monopoly on logic do possess considerable expertise in the area, are not in agreement with right and wrong. Then in that case, does it not tell you that logic cannot derive right and wrong if the foundations of logic is fundamentally weakened due to a lack of knowledge. Logic cannot work without knowledge, perfect knowledge in fact. Right and wrong, does not depend on feelings, emotions, good enough reasons. It is an absolute. Black or white. Exclusive by nature.

But if you use a presupposition that God is real, and he is good, then right and wrong becomes clear, and logic becomes the tool you use to explain why it is right and why it is wrong. Christians need logic far more than anything else sans faith, because without it, you’d be floating around in nothingness. How can that be? We need logic to understand the laws of God. Without logic, you’d have blind faith. We read the bible, but we also need to verify what the bible says, and not just what the translation says, but careful study of the topic, not to understand the what, but the why God says it.

And even then, it came to mind that that was the main thesis of life as a Christian. For me, my biggest burden is not for the lost. But for the found and lost. I have a burden for those who have fallen away from God. And I know they feel, having been there. But I want to be a friend to them, the friend that I wanted and needed. The friend that can explain, why God is good. What does it mean that God is good. How is God good. All these questions, that were never answered but presupposed.

As like the gay argument that presupposes that homosexuality is right, we cannot merely presupposed that God is good, we have first believe that God is good and find out why. We need know why is God’s will good, pleasing and perfect (sic, out of context). We need to be convinced.

We need to know the why. True Christianity does not take things on faith. True Christianity dares to ask the questions no one can answer, deal with the lack of answers, and press on. True Christians are not afraid of things unknown, including knowledge and answers. True Christians deal with ambiguity because it exists everywhere. God’s law is clear; we just lack the ability to replicate it. We need to find it.

This topic could go on. But here is the conclusion of the matter. If you do not have an unshakable foundation of truth, not just feelings and emotions, but truth, then life is getting to be really hard for you.

Perspective again

When you start an engine, many things happen.

First, pistons move.
An intake stroke fills the entire chamber with petrol and oxygen.
The compression stroke squeezes the mixture, increasing the pressure
The combustion stroke occurs at the tip, when the spark plug sparks, igniting the potent mixture.
Finally the exhaust stroke pushes out the waste gases.

In those four strokes, the engine would have turned a crankshaft. That turns the vertical motion of the pistons into a rotational motion.

The crankshaft is then connected to the transmission house, where via gears the power is then transmitted to the wheels. The gears play a role that is significant; without them, the only way to accelerate would be for the engine to spin faster and faster.

The power then goes through a differential, which controls the power sent to each wheel.

Even this description does not fully explain how a car works. There is just so much to be said at each stage. If one fails, optimality is not reached. So what is the purpose of this post?

In life, we are each like a part of a wheel. God's plans are much larger than us. He has plans that we do not know. We might be the pistons pushing up and down, not knowing that we power the car. We might be the differentials, not clear of where the power comes from, but delivering it to the the wheels. We might even be the wheels, thinking that we are the drivers of the car, but the power comes from elsewhere.

God's people all form one body. We are in that respect united. I am important, so are you. If i fail, God's plan falls from optimality. So if you fail, God's plan also falls from optimality. Sure he is in control, like the driver, but if the wheels wear out, the driver compensates. He is in control, yet not in control. God lets us have the freedom of choice, but He is in control.

Perspective

I love that word. Perspective. It can mean so much, or it can mean so little.

I was having a discussion with two friends about the fine institution I am in. Now not an issue really, but I feel that is a lot to improve in the institution. Namely what happens in the course.

And both of them told me the same thing, it's about perspective. If I was able to stop whining and see that I have something to gain from the institution, or if I believed that I had something to gain, then my time there would be worth it.

And yes i agree there is so much in that statement. But there is a half-lie. Perspective does not change truth. Perspective changes response.

This is what I mean. When I complain about something, I do my best to ensure that the criticism I lay on the body is based on facts. Based on what is happening. It is not a "damn boring, or damn sian' but more of a 'not useful' attitude. And that is the sad fact, this institution does not or is not giving me the ability to do what I am supposed to do. It is giving me the theoretical knowledge but that is not something i guess i was looking for.

Knowledge and ability are two separate entities. But for another argument.

Perspective helps us check our responses. It guides us in our choices. It helps us through the place. But it CANNOT replace the truth. If the truth is the place sucks, it sucks. Perspective means we do our best about it. And it angers me to no end, when people are so interested in making me see the right attitude. When in fact, rather then tell the person what is right and wrong, guide the person there.

Telling and showing are two separate things. Maybe for a young boy, telling is more effective. But like the saying, give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach the man to fish, and he will spend the whole damn day in the boat. (Joking, correct idiom: Teach the man to fish, and he will eat for life).

Telling is like giving the man a fish. It tells the person what to do in a specific circumstances. But showing is like teaching. It gives the man the idea of how to behave. It teaches the man how to decide.

Guide, or better still, walk with your friend through life. We are all pilgrims on a life journey.

Hamilton Wins

Massa fought hard, driving a race that was fantastic, leading the pack. To be fair, he had no need to defend his position; there were no other drivers near him.

But despite all that, despite the effort he put in, struggle and fighting for the championship, indeed winning the race, he did not win the championship.

Hamilton won it.

But the focus should not be on him, it should be on Massa. Massa put his heart and soul into the race, he raced as hard as he could. He fought the good fight, run the good race. (So did hamilton, but Hamilton won). Yet Massa lost.

That is what life is like. We fight the best we can, put on our hearts and soul into war, we wrestle with the circumstances that threaten to overwhelm us. And we lose.

That makes a man a man, a woman, a woman. One who fights, struggles no matter what, gives his best no matter the outcomes. One who gives his all and gives God the responsibility for giving him the resutls. The man who fights knowing he might lose, and still gives his all, is one we respect.

But the man we follow, is the man who is able, after a defeat, arises from the ashes shakes of the dust, pushes off and run hard again.

Sometimes we run the perfect race, yet we lose. Sometimes we are the faithful, and we get stoned. We cry out to God, and the devil responds. We seek for God, and God hides. We do the right thing, and we lose.

But do we pick ourselves up, be unjaded by the experience, and run?

I like to think, I do. No matter what happens, I sob during the event, but like David, I want to rise up after the event, and to worship God.

2 Sa 12:19 - But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.

2 Sa 12:20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed [himself], and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.

We learn that later, David comforts his wife, and Solomon is born.

David did not carry his grudge. Last season, Hamilton lost due to inexperience, but this year, he did not carry the grudge, only the lesson. He suffered from racist attacks, yet he did not carry anger, but he pressed on.

Lets hope Massa learns that. To not carry rage, failures, grudges. But to carry lessons, skills. To be pearls and not jade. To shine from tests, not shy from trials.