About Christianity

If only she could have cried awkwardly,
If only she could have forgiven them at that time,
If only there had been someone she could have leaned on...

In that body that knows nothing
Did night turn into day?

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there are many tragedies in life that many people go through. rape, abuse, murder, war, poverty, starvation, illness, accidents... etc. although i have a very strong tendency to envy other people for what they have and for what i don't, i am actually very grateful to God that so far, i have not met any situations like that. so far, i have not experienced any tragedies that will sink me into despair.

many of us too. we lead a normal life, live a blessed life. although we envy others, we ourselves sometimes know deep down in our hearts that for all the envy we have, for all the 'depressions' we have, for all the frustrations we have, we have not yet been sink into a despair we cannot climb up of. or maybe, we have not even stepped into the swamp of despair before. walking in a rocky road perhaps, but nonetheless a road.

do we know people who sink into despair? maybe the death of someone, maybe a person's own helplessness at being unable to prevent a certain tragedy. maybe a guilt too serious that he/she cannot forgive herself? we all have different limitations. some sink into the swamp quickly, while others took a longer time to sink. but, still, whether quick or slow, it did not make the fact they are sinking any more false.

like the girl (see the opening of this post), she was in despair. she cannot cry, she cannot forgive, and she had no one to lean on. in the end, the day never came. because she never lived through the night to see the day.

we have many emotions, and for every emotion there is a counter emotion. for every positive feeling there is another negative. love and hate. hope and despair. if hope can bring a person back from the 'dead', despair can send a person down to her grave. those of you who had gone through despair before, you would have understood.

the girl, her parents were dead. she could not cry. she could not forgive. she had no one to support her.

the act of crying, is a sign to show others we are weak at that point in time. unfortunately, sometimes people are unable to cry. maybe people don't want to see you in your wreak state. maybe, you just want to show people you are strong. maybe, we think we are not fit to cry (this would be the most logical reason i can come up with). unable to cry not only means we are suppressing our tears, it also means we are suppressing whatever we are feeling inside of us. hiding it, cover it... but we cannot eliminate it. not being able to face ourselves, what can we do?

forgiveness, one of the laws of christianity, is there for a reason. not only because God forgives us, it provides a way for healing. if we cannot forgive, how can we get out of the hurt? maybe i can say that because my parents are not murdered or something. but, if we don't forgive, we cannot move on. just like that girl, she was unable to move on. being stuck in the past, experiencing the pain over and over, until she reached her limit. if only she had forgiven them, she might have been able to see the day.

if only she had someone to leaned on, she might not have died. if she had someone to support her, she might have gone through the crisis. when we are in despair, we fall, and we don't want to pick ourselves up. you feel very tired, as if nothing else matters anymore. as if even if you die, it didn't really make a difference. with no one to help you, with yourself in that swamp of despair, sooner or later, that is going to make you drown. at that time, if someone lent her a helping hand, pull her out of that swamp, she would not have died.

what do i want to say?

of course you can say God is there. but, even though He is there, how many of those sink into despair will take His help? the emotions suppressed inside, the hatred, and the feeling of helplessness - even though God can take it all away, how many of those in despair would let Him do that?

maybe then, if we see someone like that, we can be a bridge to link her/him to God. even if they refuse to believe in God, maybe we can do something.

maybe, she won't let her feelings out in front of you. maybe, she won't cry in front of you. but, at least, if you are there for her, she may have the courage to face herself. she might not know it, but in fact she might be crying really hard in her heart. crying so hard she has no idea when that will stop. and that will not stop as long as she don't face herself. if you are there for her, maybe, you can just give her a little courage that she needs.

forgiveness. some of us find it hard to forgive. even though hating a person is tiring, but sometimes we just cannot bring ourselves to let go. i know that myself, perfectly well. what can you do? i don't know. hatred is something that cannot be taken away that easily. but i can say, if you are there, maybe that person would know that there are more important things than hatred. that life is worth something much more than that. it is hard to give up hating. but one has to come to terms with that. one has to resolve that matter in her own heart. but, if you are there, although you cannot walk the road for her, you can walk the path with her, right?

having someone to lean upon. this, i am sure, most of us can do. for those in despair, the least we can provide is emotional support. the person in despair is at her weakest, especially emotionally. breaking down is not uncommon. and like that girl, suicide is not uncommon. if we can be there, to show that at least she has someone she can rely on, that at least someone is there for her, maybe, she can see that hope. of course, don't give her the wrong kind of hope. give the correct hope.

a person in despair needs help desperately. it is urgent, and your actions may save a life, literally. if today you see a person in despair, if you can, lend a helping hand. if you can, sit down with her. if you can, walk down the road with her.

so that she can cry. so that she can forgive. so that she can find strength to go on with you supporting her. and finally, so she can go through the night to welcome the day. because eventually, the day will come. and the night will be gone.

i was at the train station one evening, going back home from work. i was walking and reading my manga (japanese comics) along the platform when suddenly i heard a child screaming very loudly in a voice full of fear.

the little girl thought she was lost for a moment, in that train station. from the looks of it, she was around 3 years old, 5 at the most. with a very loud voice full of fear she kept screaming for her mother. everyone turned to look at her, but luckily her mother was nearby. let's not talk about how her mum let the kid wander away. the point is, the kid got terrified when she thought she was separated from her mother in a place which was not in her house.

question is, why did she get terrified? the answer is obvious. because her mother is the only one she knows will take care of her, who will protect her. nobody else could be trusted. in a foreign world which is not her home, in a world full of the unknown and strangers, it is logical that she will cling to her mother. all children did that. i remembered that me too, when i was a little kid, got terrified when i got separated from my parents. all children, by default, by instinct, cling to their parents, because their parents will lead the way, because their parents will take care of them. in their absence, a child cannot do anything at all. that is how dependent a child is of her parents.

moral of the story? in our own way, we are like little children of God. how surprising then, that when we got lost in the world of sin, we are not terrified. sometimes we even want to break away from God, from the Father who will lead the way, and protect us. we want to get lost, get trapped in a world of unknown and a world of dangers. we thought we became independent, and we didn't scream in fear when we got separated from the Father, we didn't run about looking for Him like the girl in the train station. we thought we were ok. but are we really ok? like the little kid, if our Father (in her case is her mother) is not there to take care of us, not because He failed us but because we insist on getting away from Him, who will protect us and help us in the world of darkness? who will lead us to the correct way?

i am not saying we have to scream like a little kid everytime we sin. what i am saying is we have to give the same seriousness or even more when we got lost spirtually compared to the little girl who got lost for that few seconds. in that scream i could clearly sense her fear and her terror as she desperately cried out for her mother. will we then, cry out to our Father when we get lost to allow Him to lead us? or will we think we are independent enough to walk on our own?