Didn't have much of a good sleep last night coz' I was thinking a bit too much about stuff, and because of the lack of sleep, I woke up today with a nose running like a tap all day long. Which probably means I should sleep a little earlier tonight, but I'm going to bed at an unearthly hour as usual, as it is now past 3am. I would've gone to bed earlier except that I'm waiting for a cd to burn. It's of the video that I took of my church christmas party on Sunday. Some of my church buddies have been bugging me to show it to them, and I've had to keep them on hold so I could nicely edit it and put in music and titles and cute stuff like that. I finished the editing in one day (after spending about 6 hours straight staring at the computer, taking a gym, dinner and shower break, and then spending a few more hours staring at the computer!), but burning the movie has been a problem. For some reason, my program wouldn't burn, and it took me a while to figure out I had to remove some special effects I added in before it would work. Stupid program. So I'm burning the cd now, and hoping it'll come out all nice and good.
Also decided to move my butt to really help the tsunami victims today by getting some empty boxes from Giant today to pack with items for them. Also bought some ready-to-eat food like crackers and packet drinks. And I emailed my friends to help give me some stuff to donate when I meet up with them at church. As soon as the boxes are full, I'm sending them to the Red Crescent Society in Ampang. Hopefully, they'll put it to good use. My parents haven't been much of an encouragement. They're so skeptical that any organisation collecting donations will put it to good use, that my mum isn't keen on donating anything. Just coz' of the possibility that donated money or items will be used for reasons other than intended. And when I told her I'm trying to collect things from my friends before I send them to Ampang, she acted like it was too much. Sigh.... I don't know what to say. Tens of thousands of people have lost everything, even loved ones, and are at risk of dying from starvation or disease, and all my parents care about is their own convenience. The most they would consider donating in terms of money is RM50. What is 50 bucks to millions of homeless people? It wouldn't feed a family for a week. I know my family can afford to give more, but I don't understand how they can look at all those unfortunate people on CNN every day and not be moved enough to give all they can. Even my 80 year-old grandma staying with us, who has hardly anything herself, gave me Rm50 to pass on to the aid organisations. For her, that's a lot of money. To my parents, who have comparatively much more, it's nothing. And to add to it, my dad even makes lame jokes about the disaster. Sigh... it's hard to believe that I inherited my genes from these people sometimes. :P Oh well.... I know they're not the only people like that. Sadly, I think it's a predominantly Chinese trait to be so 'kiasu' about giving their money. Although I am glad a great number of Malaysians have given quite a bit to the victims. Not all hope for humanity is lost just yet. Heh. :P
My cd's done burning, so I'm off to sleep.
Friday, December 31, 2004
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Doing what I can
The tv in my house has been turned on the whole day and tuned to CNN, where it has been showing little else all day except news coverage of the tsunami disaster. At this point, the combined death toll all over South-eat Asia has reached above 61,000. More than one third consist of children. And yes, that is enough to make my jaw, and my heart, drop too. Videos taken by people who survived the tsunamis are being replayed over and over again on CNN, showing how large boats are tossed around like toys in the ocean, and how quickly the waters gushes into buildings, rising up to the first and second floors. Now fears are rising that communicable diseases could arise due to the high number of decomposing bodies. These diseases could kill a lot more people than the waves itself.
Naturally, I don't want to be doing nothing about it except sit around blogging about the plight of the victims and the politics involved. I've been bugging my mum and dad to donate something to help these people. At the moment, they are not keen on donating money because they believe that money can be misused by the relief organizations. They are more into donating other things likes food and clothes. Which seems fair to me...it is possible that monetary donations be misused. So I've been spending all day trying to find out where I can make such donations of food, clothes and medicines to.
My first thought was to donate to the Star newspaper, so I check out their website and found out that the donations they collect are sent to the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) or Mercy Malaysia, the offices of both being located in Ampang. I called the Star office to ask them if I could donate things apart from money to their office. While I was expecting to be greeted with a "Hello, the Star office" or something, I was greeted with a bored "Hello". The bored sounding guy on the other end told me that non-monetary donations had to go directly to the MRCS, and he gave me their number. I told my dad that I'd have to go all the way to Ampang to make our donations, and his reaction wasn't too encouraging. "Wah, so far ah? Haiyoh, they must have some place around Subang Jaya where we can donate, if they are serious about collecting donations for these people." After giving my dad a light chiding for caring more about our own convenience than for the tens of thousands who have died, I called up both MRCS and Mercy Malaysia to find out if there was any place closer to Subang Jaya where I could go.
A lady at MRCS picked up the phone fairly quickly, and after asking her my questions, she promptly said, "Can you come here (Ampang)?" after which, she gave me the address of their office. Next I called up Mercy Malaysia, which told me to call a place called Nationwide Express, which helps collect donations for Mercy Malaysia. So I called Nationwide Express, and after being put on hold for forever, a lady picked up. I asked her my question, she said "Hold on", and I was put on hold forever again... after which another lady picked up. She told me that there is a branch in PJ I could go to, and gave me the address. But I had trouble understanding what she was saying because the volume was too soft, she was saying the address too quickly and she had some accent that made it sound like she wasn't speaking English. I had to ask her to repeat herself so many times, which obviously exasperated her coz' after the third time, she let out a huge annoyed sigh. And I still couldn't be sure that I got the address right after I put down the phone. Very friendly people at Nationwide Express....
After all that hassle, I find out through an internet article that making item donations isn't as effective or efficient as making monetary donations. For one thing, it is more expensive to ship items overseas due to the weight of the cargo. For another thing, it is more time consuming since the cargo has to be thoroughly checked to ensure nothing 'dangerous' or potentially disease carrying is transported into the country. For another thing, the items donated may not be what the victims need the most. Donating money is more helpful as relief agencies will know exactly what the victims need the most and where to channel the funds. Of course, there is a chance that funds will be used misappropriately, but I think the chances are less if they were given to an international organization like UNICEF. So now my goal is to convince my parents to donate money instead of items. Which will be a formidable task since getting my dad to part with his money is like trying to take a bone away from a big, nasty and hungry dog. :P Ah well, a small inconvenience for me to help out those tens of thousands of people.
Naturally, I don't want to be doing nothing about it except sit around blogging about the plight of the victims and the politics involved. I've been bugging my mum and dad to donate something to help these people. At the moment, they are not keen on donating money because they believe that money can be misused by the relief organizations. They are more into donating other things likes food and clothes. Which seems fair to me...it is possible that monetary donations be misused. So I've been spending all day trying to find out where I can make such donations of food, clothes and medicines to.
My first thought was to donate to the Star newspaper, so I check out their website and found out that the donations they collect are sent to the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) or Mercy Malaysia, the offices of both being located in Ampang. I called the Star office to ask them if I could donate things apart from money to their office. While I was expecting to be greeted with a "Hello, the Star office" or something, I was greeted with a bored "Hello". The bored sounding guy on the other end told me that non-monetary donations had to go directly to the MRCS, and he gave me their number. I told my dad that I'd have to go all the way to Ampang to make our donations, and his reaction wasn't too encouraging. "Wah, so far ah? Haiyoh, they must have some place around Subang Jaya where we can donate, if they are serious about collecting donations for these people." After giving my dad a light chiding for caring more about our own convenience than for the tens of thousands who have died, I called up both MRCS and Mercy Malaysia to find out if there was any place closer to Subang Jaya where I could go.
A lady at MRCS picked up the phone fairly quickly, and after asking her my questions, she promptly said, "Can you come here (Ampang)?" after which, she gave me the address of their office. Next I called up Mercy Malaysia, which told me to call a place called Nationwide Express, which helps collect donations for Mercy Malaysia. So I called Nationwide Express, and after being put on hold for forever, a lady picked up. I asked her my question, she said "Hold on", and I was put on hold forever again... after which another lady picked up. She told me that there is a branch in PJ I could go to, and gave me the address. But I had trouble understanding what she was saying because the volume was too soft, she was saying the address too quickly and she had some accent that made it sound like she wasn't speaking English. I had to ask her to repeat herself so many times, which obviously exasperated her coz' after the third time, she let out a huge annoyed sigh. And I still couldn't be sure that I got the address right after I put down the phone. Very friendly people at Nationwide Express....
After all that hassle, I find out through an internet article that making item donations isn't as effective or efficient as making monetary donations. For one thing, it is more expensive to ship items overseas due to the weight of the cargo. For another thing, it is more time consuming since the cargo has to be thoroughly checked to ensure nothing 'dangerous' or potentially disease carrying is transported into the country. For another thing, the items donated may not be what the victims need the most. Donating money is more helpful as relief agencies will know exactly what the victims need the most and where to channel the funds. Of course, there is a chance that funds will be used misappropriately, but I think the chances are less if they were given to an international organization like UNICEF. So now my goal is to convince my parents to donate money instead of items. Which will be a formidable task since getting my dad to part with his money is like trying to take a bone away from a big, nasty and hungry dog. :P Ah well, a small inconvenience for me to help out those tens of thousands of people.
Your money or your life....
It's day two after the big waves hit South-east Asia, and as expected people are saying that countless lives could've been saved IF things had been done differently. Apparently the earthquake was detected in some areas, but the authorities did nothing to warn or evacuate the people by the coast even though they had an hour or more to do so before the waves hit. It will be interesting to hear what kind of excuses these people will throw around for the next few days, and who they will blame. And I suppose the different governments will be taking measures to prevent such disasters from causing so much damage and loss of life again....as is always the case. Measures are only taken after people have died....
But the biggest issue that bugs me is the fact that the protection of lives depends mainly on how much money the people have. While in Aus, I watched this movie called John Q, starring Denzel Washington as a father of a boy dying of a heart disease. The medical expenses for the boy's treatment are too high for the father to afford, so unless he pays up, he has no choice but to let his son die. The story takes a dramatic turn when the desperate dad takes the hospital hostage in order to force them to operate on his son, but the point of me telling this story is that the hospital was willing to allow a boy to die because the father couldn't pay for the operation. And in the case of the tsunami disaster, most of the countries affected by the tsunami were too poor to afford the sophisticated equipment used to detect seismic activity... and their governments will likely be too poor to pay for the resulting damage, let alone the medical care of the victims. And the question on my mind is, why is the worth of people's lives based on how much money we have? Why go through all the trouble to develop advanced medical techniques, or drugs, or technology that are meant for protecting or treating people, if we can't use them for those purposes simply because they're too darn expensive? What, are all these things made only for the people fortunate enough to be super rich? Gimme a break! The more developed countries have the resources and money to help the affected countries. They can afford to provide developing countries with the technology they need to prevent such tragedies. They can afford to provide medication and treatment to poor countries like Africa that are afflicted by diseases like AIDS and malaria....but will they do so? Highly unlikely. It's not just the fact that poorer countries can't afford the equipment, but the attitudes of not wanting to share new technologies with others for free after so much trouble and money put into developing new things. It's all about money and politics, when it should be about helping save people's lives. And after such a big disaster has happened, I bet the most authorities are going to do is throw the blame around. And Bush and Howard will probably still be wasting money and resources sending troops to Iraq, when they could be putting the money to better use helping the tidal wave victims. In the meantime, the poor countries like Sri Lanka and Indonesia that were most badly affected by the waves will be left taking forever to recover from the damage. It won't help that their economies will weaken as well, since more people will be wanting to get out of the country and tourism will drop dramatically. :(
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe some of the richer countries will rise up and go all out to help the affected countries. If that happens, then it'll be one of those rare times where I'm glad that I'm wrong. But only time will tell if they really will rise up....
But the biggest issue that bugs me is the fact that the protection of lives depends mainly on how much money the people have. While in Aus, I watched this movie called John Q, starring Denzel Washington as a father of a boy dying of a heart disease. The medical expenses for the boy's treatment are too high for the father to afford, so unless he pays up, he has no choice but to let his son die. The story takes a dramatic turn when the desperate dad takes the hospital hostage in order to force them to operate on his son, but the point of me telling this story is that the hospital was willing to allow a boy to die because the father couldn't pay for the operation. And in the case of the tsunami disaster, most of the countries affected by the tsunami were too poor to afford the sophisticated equipment used to detect seismic activity... and their governments will likely be too poor to pay for the resulting damage, let alone the medical care of the victims. And the question on my mind is, why is the worth of people's lives based on how much money we have? Why go through all the trouble to develop advanced medical techniques, or drugs, or technology that are meant for protecting or treating people, if we can't use them for those purposes simply because they're too darn expensive? What, are all these things made only for the people fortunate enough to be super rich? Gimme a break! The more developed countries have the resources and money to help the affected countries. They can afford to provide developing countries with the technology they need to prevent such tragedies. They can afford to provide medication and treatment to poor countries like Africa that are afflicted by diseases like AIDS and malaria....but will they do so? Highly unlikely. It's not just the fact that poorer countries can't afford the equipment, but the attitudes of not wanting to share new technologies with others for free after so much trouble and money put into developing new things. It's all about money and politics, when it should be about helping save people's lives. And after such a big disaster has happened, I bet the most authorities are going to do is throw the blame around. And Bush and Howard will probably still be wasting money and resources sending troops to Iraq, when they could be putting the money to better use helping the tidal wave victims. In the meantime, the poor countries like Sri Lanka and Indonesia that were most badly affected by the waves will be left taking forever to recover from the damage. It won't help that their economies will weaken as well, since more people will be wanting to get out of the country and tourism will drop dramatically. :(
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe some of the richer countries will rise up and go all out to help the affected countries. If that happens, then it'll be one of those rare times where I'm glad that I'm wrong. But only time will tell if they really will rise up....
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
A sad, wet day....
As if the world were not weird enough, nature decided to be a little more weirder yesterday. For anyone who's been living under a rock, yesterday thousands of people in South-east Asia were killed by a tsunami, including at least 53 people in Malaysia. Malaysia! If I remember my Form 4 and 5 geography well enough, Malaysia is supposed to be located on a nice safe part of the planet where we don't get funny upstarts of nature like hurricanes or tornadoes or earthquakes or tsunamis..... If you had told Malaysians two days ago that we were going to hit by a tsunami, anyone would've thought you were insane. I would've, at least. But yesterday, people along the coast literally felt the earth move under their feet, and a few hours later found themselves getting very very wet. Some were very very wounded. And some were very very dead. Good grief.
Of course, I feel super sorry for those poor people who've lost homes, cars, everything, maybe even loved ones in the tidal waves. It feels crappy knowing I have a nice bed to sleep in tonight in a nice apartment with all my family and friends safe and sound, when there're thousands of people not too far from me who've lost everything, don't know what to do and probably have completely broken spirits. And today as I read the newspaper reports of all the devastation that happened to so many countries, the first thing I said to God was "Why did You let this happen?". I'm sure I'm not the only Christian asking myself that question. If God loves us so much and He's all powerful, why does He allows such things to happen to us? It's tempting to put the blame on Him... after all He could've prevented it from happening. And if I were one of the people who lost a loved one in this tragedy, I probably wouldn't hesitate to get mad at Him. It is, of course, so much easier to blame others for our problems. And if we can't blame people, then there's no one else to blame but God. Unfortunately, after really thinking about it and remembering what Scripture says, I think I know why He allowed such a thing to happen for two main reasons.
Firstly, the sad truth is that we really have ourselves to blame. Well, maybe not ourselves directly, but Adam and Eve, when they screwed up the whole world by eating that darn fruit and bringing sin into the world. The world before then was all nice, rosy, perfect and GOOD (Genesis 1). Adam and Eve didn't have to work. Food was abundant and they lived in paradise. But after that, things became imperfect. Animals that were all meant to be vegetarian started eating each other. Nasty things like thorns and thistles started to grow (Genesis 3:18). The Bible doesn't directly say it, but it makes sense that natural disasters resulted from that as well. The world was made perfect but man screwed it up by rebelling against God. And God, even though He loves us, is also just and had to punish us by making the world imperfect and making us work for what we get. So while I know God could've prevented that tsunami from happening, I suppose He didn't coz' it's an indirect result of our sin. And if He stopped that particular disaster from happening because He loves us, then He would have to stop every other bad thing in the world from happening to protect us. And by doing so, there would be no consequence for our sin, which, from His point of view, would be unjust. So such nasty things happen, not coz' He causes it to happen, but coz' we cause it to happen. Ugh.
Secondly, the book of Revelations says that as the time draws closer for Jesus to return, there will be a lot more wars and natural disasters happening that will signal He is coming soon. Which of course means a lot more tragedies for everyone. Why it has to be this way, I don't know. But if it's gotta happen, it's gotta happen, whether we like it or not. Another reason why God would allows natural disasters to happen.
I guess the theological answers seem too simplistic, and not very nice to hear. Certainly not very comforting for the victims of the tsunami if I were to tell them. And it doesn't make me like God any better. I hate to say it, but the more I understand the way He works, the more I don't like the way He works. It would be so much simpler if He wasn't so just and He'd just forgotten about the whole sin problem, and instead let all of us lead nice perfect lives on earth just like it was before Adam and Eve messed up. And it would be great if He let everybody into heaven, so it saves us the trouble of having to convince people that Jesus is the only way to heaven. Sigh... but of course, if it was all that easy, we would take everything for granted and become a bunch of spoilt human brats....:P And when I really think about whether or not God IS being just, I think basically He is, even though I really don't like the way He works sometimes. But that's because He doesn't work the way that's most comfortable for me, which goes to show I'm already a bit of a brat. :P
Anyway, I suppose one thing most people would do after hearing about this big tragedy is to pray for the victims. But after looking at it from a Biblical point of view, I'd really feel kinda silly praying that God will help all these people out and all that nice stuff when He allowed the disaster to happen for certain reasons in the first place. So I don't really know what to say to God tonight. I'll probably be letting out quite a bit of my frustration at Him. And I'll also probably be praying that He will watch over the victims, provide for them, comfort them, and all those other nice things. Whatever I say to Him tonight, it's going to be interesting. ;)
After all that though, of course, the more important thing is to find a way to help the victims. I don't know what, but I hope there's something that I, or even CBC, can do to help these people. Anyone with suggestions?
My condolonces to the victims of the tsunamis too.
Of course, I feel super sorry for those poor people who've lost homes, cars, everything, maybe even loved ones in the tidal waves. It feels crappy knowing I have a nice bed to sleep in tonight in a nice apartment with all my family and friends safe and sound, when there're thousands of people not too far from me who've lost everything, don't know what to do and probably have completely broken spirits. And today as I read the newspaper reports of all the devastation that happened to so many countries, the first thing I said to God was "Why did You let this happen?". I'm sure I'm not the only Christian asking myself that question. If God loves us so much and He's all powerful, why does He allows such things to happen to us? It's tempting to put the blame on Him... after all He could've prevented it from happening. And if I were one of the people who lost a loved one in this tragedy, I probably wouldn't hesitate to get mad at Him. It is, of course, so much easier to blame others for our problems. And if we can't blame people, then there's no one else to blame but God. Unfortunately, after really thinking about it and remembering what Scripture says, I think I know why He allowed such a thing to happen for two main reasons.
Firstly, the sad truth is that we really have ourselves to blame. Well, maybe not ourselves directly, but Adam and Eve, when they screwed up the whole world by eating that darn fruit and bringing sin into the world. The world before then was all nice, rosy, perfect and GOOD (Genesis 1). Adam and Eve didn't have to work. Food was abundant and they lived in paradise. But after that, things became imperfect. Animals that were all meant to be vegetarian started eating each other. Nasty things like thorns and thistles started to grow (Genesis 3:18). The Bible doesn't directly say it, but it makes sense that natural disasters resulted from that as well. The world was made perfect but man screwed it up by rebelling against God. And God, even though He loves us, is also just and had to punish us by making the world imperfect and making us work for what we get. So while I know God could've prevented that tsunami from happening, I suppose He didn't coz' it's an indirect result of our sin. And if He stopped that particular disaster from happening because He loves us, then He would have to stop every other bad thing in the world from happening to protect us. And by doing so, there would be no consequence for our sin, which, from His point of view, would be unjust. So such nasty things happen, not coz' He causes it to happen, but coz' we cause it to happen. Ugh.
Secondly, the book of Revelations says that as the time draws closer for Jesus to return, there will be a lot more wars and natural disasters happening that will signal He is coming soon. Which of course means a lot more tragedies for everyone. Why it has to be this way, I don't know. But if it's gotta happen, it's gotta happen, whether we like it or not. Another reason why God would allows natural disasters to happen.
I guess the theological answers seem too simplistic, and not very nice to hear. Certainly not very comforting for the victims of the tsunami if I were to tell them. And it doesn't make me like God any better. I hate to say it, but the more I understand the way He works, the more I don't like the way He works. It would be so much simpler if He wasn't so just and He'd just forgotten about the whole sin problem, and instead let all of us lead nice perfect lives on earth just like it was before Adam and Eve messed up. And it would be great if He let everybody into heaven, so it saves us the trouble of having to convince people that Jesus is the only way to heaven. Sigh... but of course, if it was all that easy, we would take everything for granted and become a bunch of spoilt human brats....:P And when I really think about whether or not God IS being just, I think basically He is, even though I really don't like the way He works sometimes. But that's because He doesn't work the way that's most comfortable for me, which goes to show I'm already a bit of a brat. :P
Anyway, I suppose one thing most people would do after hearing about this big tragedy is to pray for the victims. But after looking at it from a Biblical point of view, I'd really feel kinda silly praying that God will help all these people out and all that nice stuff when He allowed the disaster to happen for certain reasons in the first place. So I don't really know what to say to God tonight. I'll probably be letting out quite a bit of my frustration at Him. And I'll also probably be praying that He will watch over the victims, provide for them, comfort them, and all those other nice things. Whatever I say to Him tonight, it's going to be interesting. ;)
After all that though, of course, the more important thing is to find a way to help the victims. I don't know what, but I hope there's something that I, or even CBC, can do to help these people. Anyone with suggestions?
My condolonces to the victims of the tsunamis too.
Monday, December 27, 2004
Poetry in motion, lalalalalaaaaa....
I had a sudden rush of creativity yesterday and I actually wrote a whole song in less than an hour. Just had one of those moments where I had an inspiration and the right words and a catchy tune all came out on paper at one go. Haven't had one of those moments for a while and I LOVE it....plus I consider it one of the best songs I've written, which makes it extra fun. It's kinda personal and angsty though, so as proud as I am of it, I'm kinda shy to post em lyrics. But if you really bug me and I think you can handle it, I just might play it for you live! :P I'm also looking forward to my brother coming back from the US for a few months. He's a darn good musician himself and he knows where to go to record music and stuff, so if I nag him enough, I might be able to get him and some of his musical friends to play for me and record some of my songs. That would be sweet.... And if I'm good enough, might even get a record deal and I'll be a famous Malaysian female rocker! Haha....yeah right. ~_~ Anyway, back on planet earth, I was also going through some of my older poems and songs today, and amazed at some of the stuff I wrote. Amazed both at the stuff I wrote that I still find ex-TA-remely good, and the stuff that I found ex-TA-remely crappy. I've written quite a heap of crap too... maybe more than 50 poems and songs in the past 6 years. I'm considering setting up a webpage on which I can put them, to share with others and also in case something happens to my precious hard copy poetry collection. Of course, I'll have to think of what to do with the stuff that's too crappy or too personal. Something else to keep me occupied during the holidays. I haven't even started on my 'holiday assignment' on checking out other religions and stuff, coz' I've been keeping myself busy going for Christmas celebrations, putting up photos in my room,, doing housework, going to the gym, and of course, sleeping. Hmm... such a productive semester holidays! :)
By the way, I've noticed quite a number of people actually check out my blog every few days. I'm quite amazed....is it really so interesting reading about other people's crap? Coz' I've checked out some blogs that really just has so much crap I don't care about that it puts me to sleep....although I know a few that are quite interesting too. So I guess my life isn't all that boring after all. That's a good sign. I think. Nyam nyam.
By the way, I've noticed quite a number of people actually check out my blog every few days. I'm quite amazed....is it really so interesting reading about other people's crap? Coz' I've checked out some blogs that really just has so much crap I don't care about that it puts me to sleep....although I know a few that are quite interesting too. So I guess my life isn't all that boring after all. That's a good sign. I think. Nyam nyam.
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