Home sweet home

After over a year of being away, I'm home again for a short while. Home sweet home is tucked away somewhere at the foot of the mountain, maybe not quite but close. The air is fresh and the only sounds you hear are from nature; birds, crickets and rain. Ocassionally, my nephews do turn on their computers a wee bit too loud but mostly they just close the door of the computer room and keep the modern sound in there...

Here there's no traffic during rush hours, no bad drivers honking impatiently when you are a bit slow on the road. Just this afternoon when my aunt and I decided to walk back the 3 miles home from somebody's house instead of waiting for my Dad to pick us up, somebody we know who lives out of the way offered us a ride and wouldn't accept 'no' for an answer. Business opens more or less according to your need. You need a hair wash at 8.30 am or 5.35 pm, you get it, even if the sign states 'open 9.00 am - 5.30pm'. Everyone is just too happy to be of service to you.

Of course there are some minuses. Some people just don't have the sense of aesthestic they have uncollected rubbish at their vicinity all the time. Or they are too leisurely they couldn't be bothered to cut down the branches of overgrown trees and grass in their yards. Or they have too many animals walking about the road in front of their houses one feels nervous to pass by.

But overall, home is sweet home. It feels good to sit outside somebody's house listening to harmless gossips and bankerings...having a cuppa any time of the day, plucking fresh papayas from the tree in front of the house, and simply relaxing.

Give peace a chance

It's hard to believe this song was recorded by John Lennon forty years ago this month. He and his wife Yoko Ono conducted an interview in bed in their suite in Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Canada to promote peace to the world. I must admit something that happened before I was even born is often difficult to visualize. But reading the article in the May issue of Reader's Digest sparked my curiousity to google the song up in youtube. I guess the simplicity of the song befits the spirit of peace it is promoting. Perhaps it is even more relevant in this era. God knows how the world is in dire need of peace: of the physical kind and more...

We need more people like this in the world

A friend sent me a blog by this person. Exploring his other blogs, I must say that I am impressed with his thinking. I share a lot of his sentiments about religions. Here's an excerpt from one of his impressive blogs:

(http://ulil.net/)

"Sekali lagi, kalau anda mau mencari kelemahan suatu agama, anda akan dengan mudah bisa melakukannya. Sebagian orang Kristen mungkin saja gembira sekali membaca bahan-bahan dalam situs faithfreedom itu, sebab bisa dipakai sebagai alat menyerang agama Islam. Begitu juga orang Islam akan gembira membaca serangan-serangan terhadap agama Kristen yang ditulis oleh para sarjana Barat misalnya. Banyak kalangan penulis Muslim yang gemar sekali mengutip sejumlah kritik terhadap agama Kristen yang dilakukan oleh sarjana Barat yang sebagian juga seorang Kristeb. Mereka seolah-olah hendak berkata, “Lihat saja, orang Kristen saja mengakui kelemahan agama itu.”

Kalau kita mau memahami agama secara baik, maka cara seperti itu tidak terlalu banyak gunanya. Yang timbul dari sana hanya saling cerca dan ejek. Yang ingin saya kembangkan pada kalangan Islam adalah kesadaran positif bahwa masing-masing pihak harus sadar akan kelemahan dan kelebihannya masing-masing. Sikap semacam ini juga relevan dikembangkan dalam semua agama."

Let there be peace in the world

Why is it, I wonder, that there are so many good people in the world, and yet the world has yet to find peace?