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Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Walk Of Life, Part 2

A walk of life. I believe an old American Indian ritual whereby a man would take a walk away from his home and comforts of life to go and find himself. He would not stop walking until he finds his self. When he does he would then find out what his meaning of life s all about. Maybe an American Indian ritual or something I saw on Babylon 5, a defunct sci-fi series that had an episode on this matter. No matter. I remember doing something like that some years back when I was still in the seminary and the place of searching was in the concrete and asphalt of Orchard Road, the epitome of consumerism. I remember the date - Monday, August 6 2001.

Today, was that walk again - well, sort of. On my day off, I decided to let my feet do some walking and had a friend to accompany me. The fellowship was welcomed and in the midst of a cloudy and drizzly day, we set off.

Mein Eyes!
Thompson Plaza was the first stop of the day - at Eyewear Optic. My eyesight was getting worse that I had to get a new set of glasses to cater to my long and short sightedness problem. At this age everything tends to blur somewhat. Which says a lot for my acceptance of aging, as my optician, Alex, said. He couldn't accept himself earlier that he was getting worse with his own vision. He would be able to advise his clients about all this but when it came the time for him to accept his own frailty and inevitable worsening vision he put up a fuss. Until he finally accepted his lot and didn't want to fight anymore. I understand his plight. I see my own in this today.

On Fire!
After that and lunch hopped onto a bus to Bishan's Junction 8 to catch a movie there. Weren't too sure which movie would suit to our preferences but in the end Denzel Washinton's flick, Man On Fire, caught our fancy. A tale of revenge and outright retribution with just a right amount of drama, action and violence to create the balance from the film by Tony Scott. A phrase came up that caught my attention and my friend's. It was a scene when the Denzel's character, Chrecy , was about to a assassinate a corrupt police officer with a grenade launcher from an apartment window overlooking the plaza below. The elderly occupants, sitted quietly there said somewhat sadly that it was wrong to kill and that one should forgive. Chrecy's reply created a jarring note to my senses: Forgiveness is between them and God. It’s my job to arrange the meeting. This had to come after my homily about second chances and seeking reconciliation. What can I say?.... Under extreme situation such as this, one can't help but feel it was disturbingly fitting for the occasion. Yet, it IS wrong. Life isn't in black and white anymore. There are a lot of greys and shades of greys punctuating the grammars of living. Oh, the dilemma!

Got back, still under the drizzly and cloudy skies. It was as though after having discovered 'myself', the sobering realities of life shown themselves for what they really are - elusive, hard hitting and not what they seemed to be. For now we see in the mirror dimly... (1 Cor 13: 12). How true!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

U went J8?

Ah...wat time...i was there 2day...never jio me...

Anonymous said...

On the cultivation of self, Chuang Tzu said that only if we are able to accept ourselves, can we truly be ourselves and be happy. And only when we are able to accept our own weaknesses and shortcomings can we truly be at peace.

*Y.P.*

Anonymous said...

How was Sanctification Day today?

Z

 

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