The People Factor

Read this accurate but hiliarious article by Mr Brown.

Life is getting scary, Mummy..

Dear Mummy,

I am feeling very sad.

Today in school, Zhong Guoren — my classmate from China — beat me again, in a maths test. That boy is an unstoppable genius machine.

Last week, he beat me in sports too.

If he were not here, I would have come in first and gotten a gold. But because the Government says we must welcome foreign talents to increase our population and to improve our economy, I got a bronze instead. This sucks.


Do you feel the same way as Khia Soo? For me, I never really had any problem competing with others in my academic studies. I think you'll only start worrying that way if you're one of those competing at the top.

I've never been a top student, but if I were, I don't think I would start worrying about competition from foreign students. For me, any tough competition, just pushes me further, and if I lose to the other dude fair and square, I can simply quote William Hung and say, "I've done my best and I have no regrets at all."

Those people who start complaining about competition from foreign students are just being sore losers I feel. It's like complaing that your team got beat by Arsenal because they fielded an all-foreign team. Besides, those China students are damn hardworking so why should you complain if they beat you?

It's just the kiasu mentality showing itself.

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Ever since my family left for the US, lots of people have been asking me how I've been, whether I'm doing alright, etc... especially in church where my parents used to be the pastors. Almost every sunday, somebody will see me, call my name out in delight and start asking me the usual questions.

At first it was quite nice having someone ask about you but after a while it started to get a little annoying having to answer the same questions over and over again. Perhaps to them I'm a tangible link that reminds them of my parents whenever they see me.

The question they always like to ask and I don't like to answer is, "So do you miss your family?"

That's because my answer to that is "No". But of course it's one of those questions where you're expected to say "Yes", so I just reply "not really" with a smile and then quickly change the topic by saying that I miss my dog the most.

I'm not really close to my family. I'm not sure how it got that way, but I don't blame anyone, least of all my parents. Perhaps it had something to do with their job.

Being a pastor means becoming the spiritual parents of the whole church as well, so you can't possibly expect them to handle both equally, and when the two clash, God's work always comes first. I've seen what my parents have done for the church and how much they have touched people's lives. So in a way my loss has been worth it because so much more have gained. =)

I've seen what it's like being a pastor and I can truly say that it's one of the toughest jobs in the world. Why? Because you're dealing with people. And when you've dealt with people long enough, you start to see all their worst traits. All the lies, back stabbing, hypocrisy, narrow-mindedness, selfishness and judgementality that people have and are capable of.

Imagine helping someone in need and then having that exact same person spread lies behind your back not long after. If this was the real world, you wouldn't be surprised, but these things are going on inside the church!

I'm sure you've heard this phrase before, "I believe in God, it's just His people I can't stand."

Now I know why you need divine calling and guidance to become a pastor.