The Hardest Thing To Say… Posted on 11th Jan 2013, 9:22pm by Alvin

I usually don’t reference articles, but I recently read one in December’s edition of the Readers’ Digest, which was actually a reprint of an article which appeared in the Oregon Live newspaper in April 2012. The article is too long to reproduce here, so please refer to their website here). Do read the article – its a nice warm piece that’s not that long, probably 5-10mins reading time?

The article revolves around the protagonist, then 12-years old, who inadvertently hurt his teacher with his actions. After 39 years, the protagonist successfully tracks down his teacher, and apologizes to him for his offensive action. The story triggers the writer himself to reflect back on his own past…

Actually, this article had 3 reflection points that struck out at me after reading it.

1. Everyone has a past. Somewhere along our lives, we have done something we have regretted, said something we wished we could take back, or wished we had said an extra something or done that extra something to make things right. A spiteful word to our parents? Passing the blame / responsibility to a colleague at work? Gossiping about someone else behind his back? We are all human and will fall along the way. What is important is having the courage to stand back up, seek forgiveness, and set about to right the wrongs.

2. A target of bullying. Bullying comes in all forms, not just physical violence. The mental stress from name-calling, and social stigma from cliques and being an “outcast” are all very familiar things from school days. Even if there isn’t any “active” act of bullying, sometimes by acts of omission such as leaving a person out of an activity, we may send out the wrong message that he doesn’t “belong” with the crowd. I commiserate with the protagonist who was bullied and teased just because he didn’t fit into the “in” crowd and was thin, scrawny, and without a good physique. Again, it takes courage and mental fortitude to hold your own against others, to grow up in that kind of environment with sufficient self-confidence and self-esteem.

3. Attitude towards homosexual people. The Catholic Church has her own stand on the issue, which I shall not belabour here. I’m sure everyone knows some homosexual acquaintances or close friends. We are called to reach out to and love all our fellow brothers and sisters, regardless of their sexual orientation.

In this time of Advent and upcoming Lent, I tink it is a good opportunity to reflect upon our past and our daily lives to see how we can live more Christ-centric lives. There is a famous Chinese folklore about a scholar who used to reflect upon actions at the end of the day, using Chinese Go (Weiqi) chess pieces. He’ll reflect on the day’s actions, and any positive actions would be denoted by a white piece, any negative actions represented by a black piece. Of course, the aim is to be such that there will be few and almost no black pieces if possible.

I shall end off with a hymn, whose lyrics came to mind when I was reading the article… and remember, that God is always ready to forgive us for our mistakes.

In Bread We Bring You Lord
In bread we bring you Lord, our body’s’ labour
In wine we offer you our spirit’s grief.
We do not ask you, Lord, who is my neighbour?
But stand united now, in one belief.

For we have gladly heard your Word, your holy Word
And now in answer, Lord, our gifts we bring.
Our selfish hearts make true, our failing faith renew,
Our life belongs to you, our Lord and King.

The bread we offer you is blessed and broken,
And it becomes for us our spirit’s food.
Over the cup we bring, your Word is spoken;
Make it your gift to us, your healing blood.

Take all that daily toil, plants in our heart’s poor soil,
Take all we start and spoil, each hopeful dream.
The chances we have missed, the graces we resist,
Lord, in thy Eucharist, take and redeem.