Simplicity

I have 2 more weeks to go before school starts again for the FINAL time. Yes, I am going to graduate with an honours degree in political science. Perhaps, I have become 'smarter' in the four years - in the way I think and write. But have I become wiser? Not really. Somewhere in the bible, it says that knowledge puffs up, and I can really relate to that; especially in the way I talk. Sometimes, I wonder if it is intentional or not. Conversations with people are usually dripped with political overtones. Talk about Jesus, and I will look at Him as a political revolutionary, or a social activist, or I'll try to reconcile evangelism with social action. Talk about almost anything you read in the Straits Times, and I will probably give my two cents worth of democracy and meritocracy and the blah. Talk about anything that exists outside Singapore - America, Southeast Asia, Israel - and I will look at them in terms of state behavior and foreign policies.

I always wonder if I actually do make any sense when I talk to people from other disciplines. Some of my more patient friends will usually stop me in my tracks with questions like: "I lost you on that instance, what is post-modernism?" I really do appreciate those questions, because it forces me to stop and explain those concepts which I have taken for granted to be understood. And sometimes, it is the simplest of terms that is the hardest to explain - justice, law, freedom, and power.

And thus to me, it is worth pondering for a moment and consider Jesus Christ, the wisest and smartest of all Mankind, who is able to reposition Himself within the linguistic realm of a fisherman and say: 'Come, follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men'. That He is able to simplify, but not necessarily dumb down, His philosophy of life and connect with the 'lesser' mortals suggests that there is something mysterious about wisdom that knowledge cannot provide.

As I think about the way I have related myself to people this year, I feel that the ability to connect is a very important but neglected area of my life that I hope to improve next year. It is probably important not so much because I have a fetish to 'spread' political science to people. But increasingly, I feel that I have somewhat alienated myself a bit because of my inability to 'depoliticize' myself in the praxis of everyday life. Also, I figured out that I may not necessarily have a political scientist as my wife in the future. That means I better start doing something about depoliticizing my language.

I guess most importantly - and this is something that I drew inspiration from Pastor D - is that there are strands of political science that are of fundamental importance in Christianity as well. Social justice and poverty are just two of the wide array of issues that both politics and christianity have a lot to talk about. Read Luke and you get a sense of what I mean. Today, I had a chance to listen to Pastor D's perspectives on the state of Christianity in Singapore (For the ISD spybots: No, he did not break any rules because the perspectives weren't made in a public sermon, but over a mere conversation); how the over-reliance by the population to depend on the government for welfare have actually numbed our senses for us to extend kindness to one another at a very practical manner. For instance, talk about the elderly, and maybe the MediShield and the CPF comes to mind. Likewise, the foreign domestic workers will have the Ministry of Manpower to protect them. The lower class Singaporeans are protected by GST hikes (Note that there are certain degrees of myths in these policies, which I don't wish to comment here). However, it is quite rare for an average middle class Singapore citizen to establish genuine, deep and substantial friendships with some of these groups of people, or take the extra mile (ala the Good Samaritan) to look into their spiritual and emotional needs. Yet the gospels challenge one to do so. Pastor D is someone who can explain the big politics and philosophies of the day to a youth and fires up his mind to think deeper on how to extend help to non-Singaporeans and other marginalized communities in Singapore.

While knowledge that puffs up is somewhat known as pride, I feel that it is even worse if the 'knowledgeable' dude is unable to contribute to society because of his inability to connect.

Instruction for all friends of jimmy in 2007: Challenge him to simplify when he doesn't make sense!