Why?

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." US Declaration of Independence

Until today, I've always assumed that racial prejudice and discrimination is non-existent in the US (or at least in where I am in). Call me an ignorant, naive or otherwise downright stupid foreign student but I can't really help it, especially when the Americans shower me with more respect than it is due because of my exotic-ness (I hate to admit it, that is the best thing about being international).

Last Wednesday, it so happens that during chapel, the Student Association President (who is African American) stripped his clothings (not to the point of being stark naked, obviously -- he was still clad in his underclothes) to show the point that he like all the other students is human. Well, he could have done it in other ways but this is America, no? Unfortunately, perhaps some people took it differently and the next day, the SA President found a noose on his office table. That sparked the whole controversy in ACU today and perhaps the hoo-hah will not cede until a month or so. In chapel, the whole place was abuzz with local and national news reporters interviewing random students.

Racial issues are sensitive in the US. You just can't drop a noose in a Black man's office. The noose is a symbol of persecution and racial hatred in the US. Back in the days of slavery and even after the abolition of slavery in the US, the method of torturing, if not killing, Black people was by using the noose. So, the noose is viewed as an instrument of prejudice and hatred by the Black Americans. Unfortunately, the fact that one appeared in the office of the SA President is not only depressing but you're just wondering, 'Why?'. It's sickening in this time and age and especially in such a developed nation such as the US that people are so insensitive (what a sick joke, if it actually is) and so repugnant. Worse of all, this is supposed to be a Christian university. Where is love? What is loving your neighbor all about? Dear God, why?

Monotonous

I was just in the Summit the other day bowling with a bunch of friends. It just happened that I took notice of two workers wearing T shirts, bearing a bold "May I Come Closer". To add insult to injury, these workers were forced to strap themselves with those seriously ridiculous wear-on-the-waist contraptions as if they were not already buff enough (No, actually I take that back, they looked buff but upon closer inspection, those devices perhaps are worn to hide their bulging tummies... Oh well, Ogawa need their workers to demonstrate how its device works, no?).

But what that happen to annoy me were those adverts that kept on repeating itself over and over again, droning into my mind. It was always the same 2 minute-ish advert screened upon a 20 inch TV in front of the tiny shop lot blaring away, in Mandarin, the benefits of the massage chair. Well, if it's bad enough for people walking around the shopping complex, just imagine how much worse it is for these two blokes with weird machines strapped on their waist and wearing T shirts that imply they have HIV while listening to the same advert replying itself every 2 minutes for a possible 8-10 hours of their job every single day? (No wonder the Ogawa of Subang Parade got rid of the ad and opted instead for a PS2)

I just hope that when I think about the monotonousity of life, I would try remember these two Ogawa workers.