Our so called Christian Country… and our self-proclaimed Christians…

Western civilisations all claim to have a Christian heritage. They all have had some connection with the church… Nowadays our society barely recognises who they are and where they come from. Sadly still, many Christians seem to barely know who they are and who they follow. Of course there are a lot of Christians out there and the general rule of which the actions of a few ruin the reputation of many still apply which means that a majority of Christians out there are probably fairing ok. But enough beating around the bush.

So I went to uni today and I went to Koorong after uni to find 2 Toby Mac CDs (which btw are great). While I was in the store for the full 20 minutes I heard this woman who had a child with her and the kid was about 7 years old. Now I dunno if she actually has a mental condition which caused it but she was speaking very loudly and clearly wasn’t thinking through what she was saying. It wasn’t slurred speech or tourettes but more like she couldn’t be selective of what she chooses to say and what not to say… Lacking of social awareness I guess… Now apparently some other lady looked at her oddly perhaps because its an uncommon sight. You don’t see many 35 year old women talking so callously…

Now with a child, the women was married and the husband was in the store somewhere else… while the women was talking really loudly to her kid about how the other women was glaring at her and looked at her weirdly and about how rude she was etc. Meanwhile there were two other men in the store that I saw and overheard talking also very loudly about how annoying this woman was. They were complaining to each other about how much of a nuisance this woman was and how she is telling the whole world about a problem that they didn’t care about and how they which she’d just shut up etc. I was just happily leaning against a computer listening to music samples before I decided to buy the CDs.

Well as I was at the counter paying for the CDs the two men decided to approach this woman and basically they started verbally abusing her. Saying how she should get out of the store and take her problem elsewhere and whatever. The lady starts calling them unchristian and calling them evil and all sorts of weird things and saying how she has the right to speak loudly just as they have the right to drink and smoke (I don’t know but I think that was meant to be an insult…). The men respond by saying something like “Is that how you got your husband? Is that how you treat your husband?” and then the guy walks around the corner saying “I’m her husband” and the 2 men say to him “Well take her out of here!”.

I left before the episode finished… But since all of them were in a KOORONG store… which is a CHRISTIAN store… I’d automatically assume that they were all Christians… And that was the most disgraceful display of public behaviour by Christians I’ve ever seen. Those 2 men… no patience, no kindness, no gentleness, no politeness, no manners and no forgiveness... Luckily they didn’t say where they were from or else that would ruin the reputation of their entire church. These two men could’ve approached nicely and asked her to be a little more quiet because it was distracting… would have avoided the conflict entirely. They also should not request someone be thrown out of the store…

Now the woman (if she was able to… maybe she has some form of mental or speech impediment that prevents her from controlling what she says) should’ve not have verbalised her negative opinions about others so loudly… In fact she shouldn’t have verbalised them at all, not in public and especially not within earshot of the other person. When the two men approached she shouldn’t have replied so smugly to stir up the two men… She didn’t have the “right” to speak loudly and inconsiderately… she is in public and she is sharing the space with other humans and neither was anything she said beneficial and so shouldn’t have said any of it in the first place. Implying that the two men were alcoholics and substance abusers really didn’t help the case.

I was thinking about this on the drive home… and a myriad of bits and pieces of bible verses just flooded into my mind… so these are probably all paraphrased…
Blessed is the woman with a quiet soul… that is, to know what she ought to say and what she shouldn’t say and to say things only when it is appropriate.
Turn the other cheek, if someone takes your tunic offer him your coat as well. If someone forces you to walk a mile, walk another mile for him… Compassion? Grace? Selflessness?
If what you do will cause your brother to sin then it is better that you do not do it. (Something about stumbling blocks)… This verse is pretty self-explanatory…
Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, do not let Satan get a foothold in your heart. And can’t remember where but Jesus said that Hating your brother is as bad as murdering your brother. And so Jesus clearly condemned anger of any form… because as humans we are not capable of righteous fury that God is capable of.
Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things, there is no law.”

I don’t understand how self-respecting Christians would ever allow themselves to degrade to something like that. But yeah I thought the bible was pretty clear on what kind of behaviour God expected from us.

I pity the fool... I pity the world.

Some days I see things that I wish I could step in and beat some sense into some people... Outright smash their face in... In direct proportion to the amount of putrid, fetid, disgraceful public display of uncivilised behaviour those people exhibit. This world should have no place for these kinds of pathetic lifeforms and to say that I'm finding it sad that there is such a place for these people would be an understatement of the resentment I feel towards society. I should explain why I am saying such words about society so here goes.

I went to a restaurant today for dinner with some family friends... This guy from the room across from our little reserved room came out and started yelling at the waitress that gave them their bill... He was this fat guy that spoke mandarin and it was clear as day that he was a mainlander... he couldn't have made it anymore obvious that he was even if he engraved it into his forehead. Now, where he is from is not important... I have nothing against mainlanders. I am not racist. BUT... he came out and yelled at the waitress about the bill being too expensive. I mean this guy, he obviously saw the prices of the restaurant, ordered food and ate it knowing exactly how much it would cost him. He would order drinks and what not, knowing full well that it was gonna cost him money. Now if he genuinely didn't know the prices then that's his fault for not reading the prices properly with the 15 other people he was with. But the fact that he raged at a waitress that a. had no control over the prices, b. was just doing her job and c. have no idea about your situation then I feel that guy should seriously think about what he is doing... but... he not only flamed her, he HIT her as well... Now that is the point were I almost picked myself up to go kick his ass and pin him by his throat to a wall... crush his ribs and possibly crush his manhood with my knee because no man like that should be allowed to call himself a man.

That of course would be illegal on my part cos I probably would kill him by accident in the process. But seriously what the hell is wrong with people these days... As it is, that guy is friggin hell-bound. Even if I bashed his face in so hard that he was begging for mercy & forgiveness, that would be the least of his problems....

As a christian, the above sounds far too hateful and violent to be coming out of my mouth. As a believer of Jesus, I'm suppose to love people... and hate sin... to be able to show love and kindness to sinners yet hate the sin that is in each and every one of us because even that ass-hole at the restaurant isn't technically beyond redemption. But I don't hate him because of who he is, I simply hate what he is doing. Perhaps beating the living crap out of him would be just a *tinie* bit excessive just to stop one guy from hitting one girl once (My judgement is far from perfect as you can see). People wonder why this whole place is going to hell... but it is clear as day exactly why this whole world is going to hell... We ourselves can be like that pathetic excuse of a man... but even if we arn't... We turn a blind eye and ALLOW such people to act that way... We do not do the good that we could have done to prevent such people from doing what they do... So I say with confidence that we are not good people... and couldn't be further away from perfect.

In my opinion, there is only one way to change this world.... I'm not saying this because I am trying to make people believe what I believe. But this is what I logically believe to be the only solution...

The solution is for ALL people to WANT to love and be kind and gentle with each other. It is for people to WANT to not act violently to each other. For people to WANT to not steal and covet the goods of each other. For people to WANT to not be jealous or envious of each other. This is not possible for humans as they are now and always have been... PEACE is not possible without the above becoming reality, and it will never be reality. In order for people to want to do the above, they must first agree that they are part of the problem, and they must desire to NOT live as they have in the past. They must desire to be free from the influences of the despicable culture and society that we live in.

I personally believe that there is a God and that this universe and everything in it, each and every one of us were made by this God. A lot of people think that there can't be a God because of how bad the state of the world is. I think it is our fault that the world is as it is today because we have chosen to live in a godless society in ways so disgraceful that it makes us cringe at how low we can get. If apocalypse comes I think that's a good thing cos the world is better off without us.

If I was God, I would have blown this place to hell a few thousand years ago and not bother with trying to clean up this mess. In fact he has stopped us from flattening the earth ourselves, considering how much nuclear weapons are still in existence. But from what I know, God hasn't annihilated us yet... cos we are still here. But I don't think any single one of us humans can say that if they were to stand trial before God, that they would be completely clean... It's not possible. From what I have read in the Bible, it becomes obvious why God hasn't screwed us all over yet even though we all deserve it. He has chosen to give us a second chance to beg for forgiveness. Now if you commit a crime, you have a sentence and you can pay for bail... in this case it is a death sentence and to bail, someone else who is "innocent" must die in your stead.

God sent Jesus to live amongst us 2000 years ago, our timeline of our existence is measured relative to the lifespan of this guy if you didn't know what B.C and A.D meant. Jesus was essentially God in human form. He, being God, overcame the pathetic-ness of our existence ie. He was perfect. Truly innocent in every sense. He was killed by us, so that he could be the "innocent" death required for your bail so that you could actually beg for forgiveness and actually receive it.

If you tell me, I can't prove this... well I can blog about that another day.
But for now... Let me say this much about the crap we are force fed through our "education" systems... and everything we know about science.

IF something is not true at a small scale, it cannot be true on a large scale and therefore is not true at all. Let me give you an example, Carbon 14 dating will not work for a corpse of a cow that died two days ago. Therefore it will not work for a cow that died 200 years ago and will also not work for a cow that died 2000 years ago. Let me give you a counter example, Gravity works on the dust that is in your room, therefore it worked for the cannonballs dropped by Galileo Galilei dropped from the top of the Tower of Piza in the early 17th century and has also worked for all the moons, planets and stars you see in the sky at night as they are still there after all these years.

But back to my original topic, humans as they are now have NO future that they will EVER be proud of. Looking at human history, I don't think that there is a period or era that everyone on earth can agree upon completely as a proud moment in history. No, not even the Renaissance... As in the end we only thought of more ways to kill each other. Society as it is, is doomed and, if you'll excuse me, F**KED. Perhaps we should open our eyes to what is happening around us and see that we ourselves are the ones in need of help the most.

Perhaps I wouldn't be so keen about learning martial arts if everyone was perfect. But as it is, I do learn martial arts and am keen about being good at it for my own sake and for the sake of the people I cherish.

Some Observations...

From an observational perspective, there aren't many great outspoken christians in our society. It seems as though the secular culture blanks and muffs out christian values and beliefs on which our social heritage stemmed upon. When you walk through shopping centres, you see nothing Godly, nothing distinctly christian at it's core. I guess society nowadays deem "political correctness" as an absolute necessity, and christianity doesn't quite hit that mark. It's why the fatasses in the big, red suits have invaded and destroyed Christmas. It is a politically correct fantasy of a fat guy in a flying sleigh with magical reindeer that gift gives to little kids by squeezing down chimnney stacks. And it doesn't offend anyone. Christianity definitely offends, no doubt about it, people don't like to relenquish control of their lives until they have no other way to go, and until that point, christianity does offend. Until they realise how weak we really are, until we crash, we don't give the steering wheel to a better driver (Jesus, the best driver this universe has ever seen in fact). Walking down our streets/shopping centres, everyone just looks the same. Christians by no means stand out at all, you rarely hear about them or see them do something that is different from the rest of the world. They don't say anything different. And while I sound critical here, I know well clear that I am exactly what I am saying here, I look no different and don't really speak much different apart from the lack of profanity 99% of the time, and although I do argue with non-christian friends about lifestyle choices and choice of leisure activities, slowly nudging people towards deeper and more spiritual conversations. But on the surface, I don't really sound any different from anyone else. Anyways I've kinda sidetracked from my initial purpose of this blog. What I was really trying to say was that, I went to WORD today. A christian store that sells heaps of books, music, dvd and bibles which are obviously christian at it's roots. And I was actually surprised at the patronage of that place. Cars just keep coming and going with people of all ages there. Which is a fantastic sight, don't get me wrong. It's great to know that there are so many christians out there that would actively visit stores like WORD and Koorong to find new resources to learn more and strengthen their relationships with God. But I guess what kinda saddens the wonderful picture is that it doesn't reflect at all in our society. Even though presumably, Christianity is the world's largest religion standing at some 33% of the world's population, society definitely doesn't reflect that at all. If 1 in every 3 people are christian... Then why doesn't our society show any signs of this spiritual connection? I have great respect for UQ christian groups because they really get out there and showing their allegiance with pride. At the UQ open day there are hundreds of stalls with heaps of Christian groups openly advertising and evangelising, a wonderful sight. Although some activity is better than none, sadly enough, this is only one university and only a minor fraction of our society. If that 33% of society could do stuff like that... well that would be just amazing. I guess that is what some churches do, like RICE Sydney & RICE Brisbane in which heaps of churches in their respective cities come together to hold events.

I believe that sometimes people use prayer as a kind of procrastination tool, people would rather pray about something that picking up their faith and take a step let along a leap and do something. After becoming a believer myself, the underlying impulse to do things that are pleasing to God is great. But it's those second thoughts that hold some of those actions back, the human shell that remains holds back those impulses and in the end nothing is done. While it is true that something are well beyond our human power to perform, like physical treating AIDS or as an average person treat cancer, and there is really nothing you can do but prayer for them. There are many things that normal christians can do in society that are well within their power, but they are just suppressing it. You don't need to do things by yourself, likewise the Salvos don't work as indiviuals but as teams. As a member of the body of christ, as one part works, the rest of the body can't just sit and pray, although prayer is important, prayer (in my opinion) should support actions. Sitting in a corner praying that your friends will get to know Jesus isn't really going to help, if you, who might be the only christian they know, don't find ways of letting it come into their lives. Sure, praying about it is immensely important, but so is getting your hands dirty with the work God has given us to do.

I reckon of the 33% of the people of the world who claim to be christian, I'd say most of them are sunday christians at best, if there is even a regular church attendance. If the whole 33% got really serious about their faith, I reckon there would be alot more than just 33%. But enough speculation from me.

Crazy Vietnamese Karaoke...

Tonight our family went out to eat dinner at a chinese restaurant at asian central (ie. sunnybank) at Landmark. At the same time was this large function by some company like Tissue Australia or something weird. When we were almost finished they started doing speeches and stuff, and of course most of them were asian of some kind. I believe they were Vietnamese, judging by their dialect that was definitely not canto, mando, jap or korean. It had to be some kind of South-East dialect. Either way, it was probably safe to say they were Viets. Cos as soon as the speeches finished there was this massive cheer, and the Karaoke started lol. We bombed it out of there as soon as we could haha. For Viets, and a lot of south-east asians, karaoke is like some kind of universal way of celebrating anything and everything. I mean, they were celebrating a work christmas party, karaoke. Weddings, karaoke. Pretty much any function will somehow involve karaoke. I remember one of my school friend's 18ths, he held a dinner thing at Landmark. Same time as our party thing was a Viet wedding, and as soon as they started, the karaoke began straight away. It's absolutely hilarious in my opinion.

I include other south-east asians in this kind of "stereotyping" if you like to call it that because of a group assignment we had to do this semester. It was the EWB challenge for Cambodia. One of the "KEY" important factors for providing solutions was the fact that they "LOVED" their karaoke. Villages with no running water, no grid electricity, no proper sanitation, etc. would have a massive station of like 20 odd car batteries hooked up to each other to a TV, so that they could WATCH and LISTEN to karaoke channels. I thought it was hilarious. Apparently they can use karaoke as an educational medium too. Karaoke was some kind of communicational medium to them and everything could be celebrated or transmitted via singing. They must be remarkably creative to make some kind of rhyming tune from just about anything, but it is still funny as to observe.

Neways, it was a funny moment from today.

The Weak and The Strong...

From what I have observed of people is that people always want to be self-sufficient. They want to be strong, guiding themselves along their own paths. I'm certain that is true, who wouldn't want to be strong? Who wouldn't want to be able to control their lives and do what they want to do right? This is the way most people seem to think. And although everyone has a conscience and knows (to an extent) right from wrong, we want to be able to do what we like to do, and have what we want to have. We'd all wish we were perfect, or think we are perfect, or try to be perfect. This is what being human is all about. We do what we want, we indulge that innate, inborn, sinful nature of mankind. We want more material, we want hot girls/guys (and the inheritant sex drive that comes with our sex-driven culture), we want to follow and have the latest trends, we want respect and we definitely want "love" or what we may percieve as "love". But, what is the point of these things? Following culture, trends and the like, nothing we gain out of these things will last, or indeed will breakdown and change very quickly, or otherwise we will be dissatisfied with it and want more and more and more. The people who see the above list and think "yeah, I like living like this, this is THE life", the ones that think that they are strong, and self-sufficient and independent, they won't see God. They think the way they are living is good, but yet they are always craving for more, but they can't see the need to reach for something greater than worldly things because they are still standing on their own (limited) strength.

Often people who find God find him when they realise that worldly things mean nothing and will not satisfy them, when they realise that material means nothing, that all the lust means nothing, that money means nothing, and that having the respect and "love" (and "love" in this case is interchangeable with lust to an extent) of others don't mean much either as humans are not perfect and will disappoint us. A lot of people find God for who He really is in the time of their most dire need or in their most depressing and straining times. The ones who realise they can't live like the did anymore and don't want to live like they have been living (I was one of them), it's then that we realise we don't have the strength to stay standing on our own, and we reach out for something greater, and find God's grace and realise that living God's way is JOY in its purest form. Well I reckon this is how it is anyways, cos until you realise you NEED God and reach out for Him, you probably won't take God personally even if you grew up in a christian family.

People who think they are 10 foot tall and bulletproof are probably the least likely to experience God. They probably can't see much of God over their ballooning egos, but when we are weak we realise just how great and powerful God really is and see his grace, mercy and love (true, unconditional love in its purest form that transcends all levels of human affection, this one is NOT interchangeable with lust). They don't see a need for God to be in their lives. Depression is a great thing, without it I would not have experienced the love of God through Jesus. But its also a pity when you realise that there are alot of people who will never be able to experience God and enter into his kingdom into eternity because they were too blinded by the world to realise that there were far greater things to be had beyond secular things.

Why Do People Like Clubbing?

So the thought that occurred to me today was "why do people enjoy or want to go clubbing?" I mean, what do you do at clubs? So you dance, you drink, and you interact with random strangers that you most likely will never meet again. So unless you are like a uber pro street dancer and like to show off your leet dance moves... What do you go to clubs to achieve? What do you gain from going to clubs? Are you there thinking that you will somehow meet the guy/girl of your dreams and just somehow meet up like some kind of fairytale? Are you there just to get wasted? Are you there just to check out some "hot" guys/girls? Or are you there to just flirt around with randoms? Is it a combination of the above or ALL of the above? Well, logically, there is no real overall gain in doing any of the above, and there is no way in the world that fairytale relationships can possibly come out of clubbing. Sorry to burst the bubble, but love at first sight is a load of crap and does not happen. Do you enter a relationship with the intention of it being temporary? For the general, sane, population I would think the general consensus would be no. (I guess some really insecure people who think that having a relationship is the only thing that matters even if they don't like it, but as a public image, must have one anyways). So if you go to a club to look for a relationship, what are the underlying desires that trigger you or "magnetise" you to a particular person? Their looks of course. But since when has the look of a person ever defined them as who they really are, you know nothing about them, and you don't know what they are like apart from the particular mood that person might be in at that particular moment, in that particular environment at that particular stage in their life. So what makes you think that if you get into a relationship with this person that you think is the hottest person this side of the milky way, that they truly are who you think they are? With utmost certainty, that relationship will fail, and you will be shattered and depressed by it, and by nobody else's fault will it be that it failed apart from the fact that it was a stupid place to look for a relationship to start with.

As I said above, the people that go to clubs do not have any great intentions in mind. The guys that are there, if they are single (and most likely so), what kind of things do you think are going through their mind? Being at a co-ed school and being the giant sponge of a human that I am, I soaked in the rumours and gossip by merely passive unintentional eavesdropping. Just the "rowdier" boys and the kinds of things that they say and talk about was enough to disgust me. All they cared or wanted from a girl was pretty much in one word, sex. (It's the way of the modern world if you haven't already figured it out for yourself). Now you go to a club, and you have hundreds of these like-minded people, I'm REAL sure your gonna find that brilliant, fantastic, flawless, guy of your dreams that has real dedication and commitment to you and truly loves you for who you are... Not... lol... You are pretty much dooming yourself to a failure of a relationship before you even start. I guess this is why there are so many darn divorces these days, people just don't use their brains to think things out and to delve into the culture and the minds of others to understand the motives of people and their desires.

Now, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that people who go to clubs, will be flirting away at each other, and "checking" each other out. Some looking for one night stands (mainly guys? I dunno about the girls on this one, but I guess if your a slutty one then sure you'd think like this too), others (pitifully) looking for relationships. So, you supposedly indulge in this "eye candy" stuff. But... how great do you feel after the night is other? When your in that taxi heading home, half drunk, how do you feel? At the time you feel, high? I guess, but... long after, you don't feel happy or any happier. If your taken, then I'm sure you would feel guilty, since you know how weak you are... How easily shaken your supposed dedication and commitment to whomever you are with is... How pathetically weak your mind is... If your single, well maybe you might feel a bit guilty, and at the same time depressed. Clouded by your lust, you WISH you had her/him. You waste your time speculating as to what kind of person they are. You hunger for some kind of affection/love that comes from a relationship. And also you realise just how desperate you have become for it. Sounds kinda pathetic doesn't it? Well, that's because it IS pathetic.

Well, if you go to clubs to drink, to get drunk in other words. Then why do you need to get drunk? Does it make you happier? Do you think it will somehow solve your problems? Do you think that being drunk will make you more appealing in anyway? Do you think you are even likable drunk? Sure, since you forget everything when you are absolutely smashed, it's like a temporary distraction from whatever is going on in your life. But do you think that it will somehow make bad things go away? No. Rather than drinking away your wealth (probably hundreds upon hundreds of dollars) and your health and your livelihood (drunkenness causes much domestic distress), shouldn't you find better ways to deal with problems, finding a better source of strength and dependence? (I sure wouldn't depend on alcohol to solve my problems and I definitely wouldn't use alcohol as the strength upon which my life stands, I'm sure a lot of people so though). Besides, being drunk and disorderly, changes you. You are not who you really are, you get angry easier, you lose your judgment, you lose your intelligence and whatever brainpower you have. When you are drunk, you do really, really stupid crap, a lot of which are unsafe or dangerous. Like I said before, about the intentions and the sleeping around stuff? Well, even if you wouldn't do it while you were sober, if you are drunk, you are capable of doing all sort of stuff. It's what a lot of people go to these places to do... Get drunk and get laid. Sad truth.

So what is a GOOD reason to go clubbing? I (in my biased christian perspective, though my christian perspective is biased in a good way) can see none. There is no JOY in clubbing. If coming out your none the happier, then why did you go in the first place? Sometimes some things just seemed like a good idea at the time to do, but you have done it you think "Oh my god, what have I just done?". You feel guilty, you know you have done something wrong, something you shouldn't be doing. And the intentions and thoughts that people carry into clubs are sinful, and dirty. They are stained black with lustfulness and sexually immoral ideas. But, for most people, they don't know any other way apart from this. They are but slaves to the devil. Sure they think they are enjoying themselves, but are they really? Do they feel content? To enter repeating cycles of doomed relationships, to be drunk and disorderly, to feel like a desperate animal during mating season with nothing but sex in mind, would you really be content? Do you feel loved or wanted for who you really are? Would you want to live like this every week or to some, every day? Well, I'm sure my answer would be a big NO! You might think it's an over-exaggeration... But, look around you, you see so many broken relationships, one after another, you see families being torn apart by substance and alcohol abuse, you see people's ruining their lives with this kind of lifestyle. This is the worldview, this is our secular society.

I remember my maths teacher, Mrs. Taylor, telling us these great words of wisdom. "You do NOT fall in love, you GROW into it, the ONLY thing you FALL into are potholes." So if your looking for something that would even remotely last, I'm certain clubbing definitely ain't the place to look. Of course there are much more that I could blog about on this topic... But I think I'll spare us from a massive unending stream of text... at least for now anyways... (As you can probably tell, this blog isn't really here to make friends haha... I like a bit of controversy... Gets people thinking I guess...)

The Minds of Children

Some of the kids I teach are rather excitable and kids in general do not think before they speak once they enter their excited states. I was doing school learn to swim today, and one of my classes consisted of grade 1 kids. Children are quite forgetful and will take ages to remember your name. Children also don't listen or pay attention to their environments while they are in their excited states, which means that groups of children tend to ask the same questions 2-4x the number of children there are in the group cos they ask you a question and get distracted while you answer them and they ask you again.... and again and one more time just to see if you get annoyed. And so even after 2 lessons they still didn't remember my name, which wasn't an absolute surprise. But then they began asking a million times "what is your name?" to which I would answer "Vincent" half a million times, cos most of the time they would ask the question simultaneously (You learn to become really patient). Then for some strange reason, a child asks "What's your mum's name?" and there I stood thinking "wtheck does that have to do with swimming?" so I answered "Does it even matter?" and a loud "YES" came from the kid. I didn't end up telling them my mum's name lol. But 2 seconds later, a kid yells "How old are you?", being honest I said "eighteen"... then the kid asked "Are you a teenager?"... You'd think even a grade 1 kid would know that if you're in your teens, you're a teenager right? So I gave a blunt "yes". What started to get me worried was when another kid went "Does that mean you smoke?". That's when I really thought "WTH... where do these kids learn these things from?" cos they do go to a private catholic school, so you'd think their parents wouldn't be that bad if they would send them to a private catholic school. Of course my answer was "No, I do not smoke"... But then what followed was "Do you have a girlfriend?" and this was coming from a grade 1 girl... Instinctly telling the truth I said "No, not yet anyways"... Immediately, "Will you have a girlfriend soon?", I wasn't getting annoyed by the billions of questions that were being thrown at me, but I was wishing they would stop asking these weird questions that I didn't expect to come out of a 6 year old. But being completely honest I said "I don't know, I don't know" and the same girl made a rather surprising outburst in an extremely loud voice, "HOW CAN YOU NOT HAVE A GIRLFRIEND?" like it was a crime to not have one lol... And some other kid asked "Are you married?", which I simply took as naivety, cos wtheck I'm 18, and how many people get married at 18? Ok so you do get those rare NAIVE people that do that... but... It's not common and I'd say it's defnitely not recommended from both secular and christian worldviews.

These definitely weren't things I'd expect to hear from a group of grade 1 kids. But it got me thinking, what on earth at their age could possibly make them have that kind of impression or expectation of a mere 18 year old boy? What are they seeing or hearing that would make them link teenager = smoker? They don't comment on me being asian (as some kids do ie."why do you have black hair?" (yes I've been asked that before)), but they think teenager = smoker?

Also, what are they hearing or seeing that makes them think of "romantic" (and from the discourse you hear occasionally, potentially sexual) relationships at THAT age?? What would make the kid even ask whether I have a girlfriend or not, like it was vastly important to them? Why would a child of their age even value romantic relationships on such a high scale?

What do these kids being exposed to in society that would lead to that kind of thinking? What kind of TV programs are they watching that would lead to this? Are mere children's programs and cartoons enough to create this kind of thinking pattern? I think not. Children are sponges, they absorb everything they see, and copy everything from people and things they like or respect. That could be a cartoon character or a person from a TV show, but what about parents or older siblings as well as celebrities in the media? and those accursed children's magazines that they read. And maybe we ignore it, but music too. Why do you think we have see so many try hard gangsta kids these days? Think about popular music, think how much of it is about love and relationships... and gangsta music? how much of it is about sex and other dirty, unholy things? And children seem to pick it all up. I cringe at the sight of a 3rd grader trying uber hard to be gangsta. And those magazines, are filled with crap about the private lives of teenager celebrities and mostly about their relationships and other crap that noone with an ounce of wisdom would give a crap about, would poison the mind of children to think that is a norm... Such is reality... and such is this generation. With such wide access to overloading amounts of information, one has to be seriously wise to know what is worth knowing and what is not, what is true and what is a lie and what is the reality of their lives and their environment and what comes from other place and is not applicable. Children.. generally do not have that kind of wisdom, they are naive by nature as wisdom comes with age, exposure and mistakes.

Even at our age, late teenagers and early twenties, we are still being influenced by all the above immensely but perhaps at a less naive level as we have made plenty of mistakes by this time. But seriously, we have been or are still being influenced greatly when it comes to our expectations of other people, ourselves, relationships, whatever...

God help us all... cos this world that we live in is one bloody screwed up place...