I'm going to be celebrating Merdeka somewhere up in the sky over a bunch of different countries. It's a little sad. Then again, it's not as if I would actually be doing anything huge or different back home.
I thank God for Malaysia and all that she has been to me. A home. A familiarity. A comfort. A safe place. I'm not very good at adapting to change, or to new things, and I suppose that's why I've always returned home, I guess, besides the fact that I keep thinking, if everyone goes, who will stay?
We always hear about people being called to go. Go to the mission field. Leave your family, leave your comforts, leave your job and bring the gospel to the unreached. And yet, lift up your eyes. The fields are white for harvest. You don't lift up your eyes and see across the world. You lift up your eyes and look across the street where you live, at the person in the cubicle next to you, at your classmates and your lecturers, at the homeless in the street, at the people who walk by you every day, who talk like you and think like you. And I believe that for everyone who is called to go, there are more who are called to stay.
Stay in a Malaysia that is crumbling, because who else will be her strength?
Stay in a Malaysia that is corrupt, because who else will be her justice?
Stay in a Malaysia that is in pain, because who else will be her healer?
Stay in a Malaysia that is in chains, because who else will be her freedom?
There are so many things wrong with our nation, but then again, no nation is perfect. Everywhere you go, you will find something to complain about, you will find corrupt and illogical practices in government. The answer is not ditching it. The answer is asking the question, "So what should I do about it?"
It doesn't mean that you will be involved in politics. It doesn't mean that you start a revolution and march along the streets. It just means that you make your voice heard, one way or another, through your votes, through the way you deal with people, through the way you bring up your children, through the way you slowly change the culture.
Because really, what makes up a nation?
The people.
And when the people change, the nation changes too.
You took the words right out of my mouth....See you soon
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