Sometimes we forget

I went to the Kew Ong Yeah temple at Jalan Burmah this morning. I used to follow my mother-in-law there but I hate going because it was always jam and I normally wait far away while she went in to pray. My late mother-in-law prayed a lot. From St. Anne to some Indian temple to Kew Ong Yeah, Kuan Yim and Tua Pek Kong. Then, there is the various Thai temples in Bangkok, Chiangmai, Haadyai….

((Oh ya…I also used to bring ex-my bf’s mother there to pray as well…Phew…what a lot of mothers I went with before.))

Btw, my hubby, her youngest son was the adopted son of Tua Pek Kong and he would faithfully go to the temple on every mooncake festival to donate a little money and get his ‘god-son mee koo’ (pinkish steam bun) back. That man didn’t bother to do it this year, I wonder why. I reminded him but hmmm…he just couldn’t be bothered. Maybe the other Father is slowly calling him? (I cannot joke with him without making him pissed, hehehe.)

The reason I went to Kew Ong Yeah temple is to do a citizen journalism video on religious tolerance. I had gone on the vegetarian fast before and I know that faith on the nine-brothers does show some miracles. Well, as a mother, the only favour I asked from whatever gods, goddess and even rocks are that my children are healthy. I mean, long time ago before I turned to Christianity.

Religion is something all of us Malaysians are born into. It is in the registration form in our birth certificate. So, you cannot run away from having a religion.

But faith…… faith is something that you either have it, or don’t. And one can have faith without actually having a religion. You can preach and scream that your god is the only god and yadda yadda yadda. But there is nothing more powerful than faith.

I hang around the temple for a long time this morning because I need to get a connection before I can actually produce a video. Crazy? Me, a person who nows believe in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ only hang around a temple with multitude statues to get the right feel? Well, what’s wrong with that? I respect the ‘persons’ of the statues there.

These are images of some persons whom people believed existed long time ago. These people go there to pray because they have faith.

It is a nice feeling in the temple. It was raining outside. The ashes from the spiral joss-sticks were falling down on me like snowflakes. Wondering what the people are praying for. Wondering where the beggars who were lingering outside came from.

After a while, I went to interview the temple committee but they aren’t very keen to tell me stories about kew ong yea. I know the myth but I wanted it out from their mouths but they said they do not know. Ok….

But what makes this morning wonderful is I bumped into the old lady whom I met during Wesak Day. The joy of finding her is immense. We chatted and just to have fun, I turned over my video cam lcd screen and went over to hug her. She was happy to take pictures with me. And that made the trip worthwhile.

Sometimes we forget….but let’s not do it too often. Sometimes, we are too preoccupied with our own problems, going to our own individual gods to ask for help and favour. But we forget about the people who needs the favour and help most.