Expanding my mind to understand more

In a way, I'm thankful I have almost completed my bible school... only left 3 more days next week of classes and we left only a dance item on the 20-21st Sept, followed by collecting our gowns & motars to attend photo taking before our actual graduation on 27-28th Sept.

Actually I practice for the dance, but when the dance instructor announced that she wanted to do a formation of the students running in... I thought to myself... how would that be possible for me in my electric wheelchair running in to the front of the stage to perform with others running in as well? I won't want them to risk colliding with my device and they got injured!!! Come on, I had my own shin injury from this same device when I was just learning to use it that took me 3 months to recover from the open wound after surgery. Plus now the dance instructor also announced that another 100+ youths are joining us in the same dance too, and we are only given 1 evening for practice... another afternoon practice on 20th before going up the stage area to perform. They won't be able to have enough time to teach the youngsters how to navigate around an electric device like that!

Sigh, I just felt like I'm always invisible to them... to me, I am in a big bulky dangerous electric wheelchair and many times I already have other students almost running into me while in school premises. I can only say that inclusiveness of PWD (person with disabilities) in normal church is still not so ingrained in the culture here yet. So I decided not to be involved in the dance performance after careful consideration. I don't think any of them have the experience or expertise to know how to arrange for a wheelchair user to be involved in a dance performance with 400+ people if they want them all to run in together. It would be a disaster waiting to happen when there's no time for just 2 combined rehearsals to do that.

They would think PWD should join either the Seniors church or the special needs group because I have members telling me to go join the seniors. But I am not that old and me as a PWD don't fell into either category. I felt like the odd one out all the times, especially when my team mates went for lunches together without me in mind... then telling me sorry that I cannot join them since they are going elsewhere for meal times. At first I did feel hurt that they did it again... then I just comfort myself that I may be alone, but I am not lonely for GOD is still with me. Then I went buying lunch on my own as well as finding new stuff to buy from the neighbourhood. I just started a mini plants collection in my balcony for my own self care.

Anyway, next week I would be joining my team mates for 2 dinners (one at the international students hostel as there's 5 team mates who are from oversea) before they fly back at the end of the month. I would be giving a treat to my two bible school boys who helped me a lot by carrying my electric wheelchair down two flights of stairs daily just to go school together. So I'm arranging an outing to Sentosa with Universal studio tickets for them to enjoy. Hope the weather would be fine that day!

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Meanwhile, last night Bible family group was canceled as our leader was away for a trip with her family. I took some time to enjoy my Sabbath break to catch up on news... lately I came across this young speaker "CHARLES KIRK' who was murdered in school shooting. I went to find out about his debates videos and I was impressed by his logical train of thoughts in most of the videos I saw. Although I'm not familiar with the left wing or right wing politics in USA, (which I don't mind my friends here can enlighten me on these?)... but I can see that it can be quite a source of conflicts when people cannot agree to disagree and turned to violence.

And from some of the videos, I can also see how hard it was when college students (still young from life experiences) went all ballistic with angry views and not able to control their own emotions in a debate or some even walked out when they cannot find the words to express their thoughts, or using vulgarities were quite appalling. Yet I also heard from my Professors from there that there's now a shift in the Christian world as young men are now coming back to church (revival) to learn how to be better men, which is encouraging.

I am still trying to learn what made CHARLES such a target that people would want him dead... because the videos I saw so far were mostly moral values I myself hold too... not because I am a Christian but what is happening in the labour issues there, is also happening in my own Singapore. Over here, we are strict on immigrant rules too. If too many foreigners come in to work, we locals also lose out in our salaries as bosses would hire the cheaper labour too. And the abortion law... I was shocked to hear a young lady saying a baby life only start after delivery... or she said why she would want to give up her life if she get pregnant, implying she rather kill the embryo, insisting it's not a life inside? Or send the babies to orphanage? Sorry but it break my heart to see how cheap lives are being spoken by these collage students.

And yes, the never ending questions on Gaza, Hamas, Israel issues... For some times I was upset with Israel too for the extreme ways they are going these days... yet it was also true that they have the rights to defend themselves as well when CHARLES highlighted on this point... because two states policy didn't work out when Israel did left them alone for over a decade and there were so much fighting among the different groups within them. This is a hard question on how it can be solved. Meanwhile other countries with civil wars are also happening but no one is talking about it either. In my own team, I have a nurse who is from Myanmar and she also fear to go home when bible school ends this month due to the civil unrest. But is the world looking at that? Nope...

I have not been following the world news as I was busy with my bible school and ministry. But now as I saw what was happening... it made my heart sad... why all these hatred and anger... and violence... how are you people over there handling all these? I just want to understand more about what is happening in the USA now... what are the issues this incident have bring up to the surface?