Should do something about it
Somebody quoted a Christian leader as having said recently that the population of Christians in the country is growing and that lives are being transformed. My question: Is it true that lives are being transformed or are they being sucked into a culture of religiosity and 'doing church'? If lives are being transformed, then the nation should also be transformed.
I think there are possibly three types of Christians in Malaysia:
- Those who see what's happening in the country, are concerned, and speak out, trying their best to do what they can about it;
- Those who see what's happening in the country, don't like it, but feel impotent and frustrated because they don't know what to do or don't think anything they could do would make any difference; and
- Those who either don't see what's happening in the country, or see and don't care enough about it as long as their comfortable lives and their livelihood isn't disturbed, so never bother to do anything about it.
I'd put myself in category (2).
Last week I was reading an article about modern slavery. Among other things, it talked about how an ordinary woman, Sandy Shepherd, ended up a crusader against human trafficking. "She is an everyday citizen who would not let injustice prevail and was willing to risk personal involvement. She understands it's not just about one boy; it's got to be about the thousands of people who are in the same situation," somebody said of her.
The word 'risk' is very telling, especially in a country like ours. After all, we all know that many things are 'sensitive' here (including contracts between highway concessionaires and the government, which have somehow ended up classified as Official Secrets -- ha!). The powers-that-be don't like us rocking the boat or upsetting the apple cart too much.
But the other part of it is an everyday citizen who would not let injustice prevail. Uh-oh. I'm an ordinary citizen. I can say I'm not a Lim Kit Siang or a Jeff Ooi (veteran opposition politician and outspoken social commentator respectively), that I'm just an ordinary citizen. I mean, look at it -- most people who make a difference started out as ordinary citizens...
Perhaps it's in how strongly you feel about things. I suppose if I felt strongly enough about a certain issue, that might actually motivate me to get off my butt and do something about it. At least blogging is doing something about it... although I think I should actually do something more concrete. Whatever. Never mind.
Most people start small. Notice that Sandy Shepherd started by temporarily sheltering seven children. Then taking one of those children into her home and treating him as a member of the family. Then getting involved in his story. She moved from speaking out on his behalf to speaking out for all the other child victims. She wanted to do something... because she saw the plight of one child.
I would like to think that I, and the others around me, haven't gotten involved because we haven't found something that captures our hearts like Given Kachepa captured Sandy Shepherd's. I would also like to think that we haven't found something that captures our hearts because that issue simply hasn't come along, and not because we're wilfully turning a blind eye and cold heart to the what's around us -- and definitely not because we're allowing ourselves to be cowed by fears of what might happen to us if we dared to speak out. Maybe I'm in denial. Hmmm.