Saturday, August 23, 2008

Religion

Men and women of religion. I’m afraid I haven’t had much luck with them. From the nun who slapped my kindergarten friend around and out of the class (I wonder how many of us in the class had been traumatized by that incident), to another nun who neglected to record the school fee that I gave to her (during high school, while my father was suffering from stroke), to my accounting teacher (same school) who made me make a name sign for his church (aluminium and plywood, he said. I was a high school kid, how on earth was I supposed to do that?), to the headmaster who slapped my friend in the face with a bible, for skipping mass. My friend was a very nice girl, a star student, for goodness sake.

If that wasn’t enough, add some hate sermon at the mosque. Add a charity group who refused to help a family because they were not Moslems. Add the priest who molested school children, and is now still free. The church has not even acknowledged the problem (one of the girls committed suicide. The parents came all the way from England to talk to the Pope, while he was in Sydney, but they didn’t get to talk to him). Add terrorist groups. Add the Spanish Inquisition. Add witch hunts. You’d think religion is definitely worse than an asylum.

Unfortunately for me, I am now working for a religious organization. This is a more contemporary religion compared to Islam or Christian or Hinduism or Buddhism. So you’d expect something different, right? Wrong. It seems that there is something about faith that makes people a bit nuts, no matter which God they serve. I realized this when my employer called me and used all the manipulation technique in the book to make me accept something that I didn’t want to accept, and when I complained the next day, she denied saying what she said. I never expected to deal with Mother Theresa. But really, I was expecting something much better than that.

I’d like to think of myself as a peaceful person. I don’t like to quarrel, and I don’t like to see people quarrel. Whenever my hot-headed family members fight each other, I usually grabbed my shoes and walked out of the house. When I return, normally the fight is over. But some people just get on my nerves. They could not open their mouth without offending me. Unfortunately for me, some of these people are my bosses. I was still angry at my current employer for bullying me into accepting something that I didn’t want. I was also still angry because she didn’t keep her word. In our initial agreement, she told me that there is no time limit, and I could take my time to finish the project. Then suddenly she started counting the pages that I finished, and started sending me emails that said you have to finish this much pages per day. I was maaad. On the day I submitted the work she called again and complained about something that we had agreed on before anyway. I was reaaally maaaad. So my grumpiest bear-voice came out and I didn’t let her finish one sentence.

Later on I calmed down and it dawned on me that I was rude to a client. And that’s not good for business. What to do? Apologize, of course. For being rude only, because it’s wrong to be rude. Her memory loss is her own problem, not mine. Guess what, she said it’s ok and she blamed it on my reactive mind (this is a religious term, meaning I was reacting based on a bad experience in my past, so I wasn’t actually responsible). I don’t know about that. But I know I felt much better after my grump-fest. Venting felt wonderful and I felt ready to go on with the next project.

Computer Class 3

On the third day of the program, another interesting person turned up. He was wearing a dark suit, a trendy, light one. The kind guys wear to go to the clubs on Saturday night. His hair was slick with gel, and he was wearing sunglasses, in the classroom. The glasses looked more like goggles because they covered the eyes completely, even from the sides of his face. The teacher told us his eyes were sore.

This new student, let’s just say his name is John, was very enthusiastic in class. He responded to almost all of the teacher’s statements. then there was a part about workplace safety, and the teacher showed a picture of a monkey throwing a banana peel on the floor. John piped in, “My wife was a monkey. She was stupid. That’s why we got a divorce.” The teacher looked at her notes and said, ”We didn’t need to hear that, John.” Then she added jokingly, “It could be harmful to our psychological health.” The class laughed.

During the break we went down the elevator together. “I’m a computer genius,” said John. “Really?” I asked. “Yes, but not the usual kind. I’m a code-breaker.” I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I kept my mouth shut and smiled politely.

After the break we returned to class. A few minutes later John went out and leaned his forehead against the wall. We could all see him, by the way. The teacher pretended not to notice and continued with the lesson. After about ten minutes, John returned to his seat.

I know people came to the class for different reasons. Most of us want to improve our computer skills. Other people, like John and the guy-with-the-dog-in-the-shopping-bag, who knows what they are looking for. Attention? Friends? Sympathy? Escape? The teacher may seem cold and uncaring, but these guys are looking for help in the wrong place. And if the teacher listened to the stories of their lives, the rest of us will get nothing in the end. Still, I feel sorry for these guys. Aliens would probably fit in more easily than them.

The Computer Class 2

Back to the first day, about an hour after the class started a man came to the class. He apologized for being late, and was explaining that he couldn’t find the building. The teacher sensed that it was going to be a long one, so she asked him to take a seat. The man was carrying a green supermarket shopping bag. The kind you carry whenever you go to the super market, if you can remember to. We were surprised to see the content of the bag. It was a little dog! The dog was sitting calmly and patiently. The man said that he had permission to bring the dog to class. The class continued.

At some point during the class, the man could not follow the lesson. He tried to explain why to the teacher. Again the teacher said “It’s ok” and continued the lesson. The man showed up a few times after that, and then stopped coming at all.

My Computer Class 1

A few weeks ago I started going to a computer course at a government supported school. The first person that I noticed before we went into the class was an Indian lady. She’s middle-aged and has short hair. She didn’t look very friendly. A few sessions later we net in the elevator. I asked her where she is from. She gave me three guesses. Three guesses? Ok.. That means India is obviously out of the question. She doesn’t look Pakistani, so that’s out of the question too. So I asked, “Sri Lanka?”
“No.”
Not Sri Lanka. I tried to remember what other Indian-ish are there out there. I remember my friend Michelle, so I asked, “Goa?”
She looked really surprised. “How do you know? Most people have never even heard of Goa! Is it my name?”
I have no idea what Goa’s people’s names are supposed to be. Lucky guess, but she was really impressed hehehe…