The Ship of Salvation

Anthony De Mello, the much beloved, deceased preacher and writer spoke of how we "sleepwalk" through our life. Hermann Hesse, the great German writer and thinker, wrote of how we lead a senseless, insipid existence in search of wealth and power all in the name of greed. As for me, I think we - especially bloggers - are getting more egotistic by the day, believing each of us is the centre of the universe. No, it will be a little too convenient to blame it all on a modern creation like a blog.

Admittedly, blogging has given me endless pleasant hours. But honestly, by indulging in self-pity, complaining to everyone and no one would grant me self-importance that we all crave. I have felt that often enough. The idea is planted in our mind imperceptibly, that you yourselves are most unfortunate and pitiful, that it is only your voice that counts.

Personally, I have always celebrated and advocated for diversity in a person and his opinion; having an opinion is better than having none. But I have been having second thoughts.

Imagine this scenario: The end of the world is here, but there is one chance for the whole human race to please God, to convince Him that we are all His children. So the ever gracious God said : "If all of you, regardless of the colour of your skin, your hair, your native tongue, can together, build a ship to ferry yourselves across the seven seas till you find an island called "Hope", salvation will prevail then" And so all Earthlings gathered, and not unexpectedly, with the American leading. "Look, here is the plan. This is what we do...” President Bush barked. But the big wigs from China mainland have other ideas. "No, no, no, the ship should be built this way...” they insisted with a hint of frustration and arrogance. Frankly speaking, they had no reasons to believe in Bush; who could, with someone named after some low, worthless tree. "And what did the Chinese know about ship building", thought the Americans, "all they ever built was something useless called junk!” And the arguments went on and on, finally escalating into fist-fights, not unlike those Taiwanese politicians in their own legislation house that we are occasionally treated to on TV. And when the White Americans proclaimed the ship to be coloured in white, the Black Americans thought aloud, "Here we go again..." with heads shaking and eyes rolled upwards. Then the Indian men came into the picture, reminding the Chinese wise old man of the saying: if you have a stick and there is a snake and a Indian man, use it to hit the Indian man first, for he is bound to cheat you. Without doubt, nothing is accomplished, even with the coming of the monstrous tsunamis and earthquakes resulting in the end of the world. Or at least that is what the Bible suggests.

Won't we ever learn? For all our rich history has shown, one thing for sure is that human has never learnt from its past history and mistakes. Well, I am here to prove otherwise. For egotism, racism, colour discrimination or white supremacy are the ills of this world that evoke and compound its wrath. Its respond is tenfold. I began to see that building the ship of salvation has to start with me and each of us. Though I am hoping all is not too late.