The life and mind of Adeline Ong

“People think that if they were rich they would contribute to charities. My experience has been if you don’t start giving away your money when you have very little, you won’t do it when you get a lot.”

Robert Bainum

“Treat people as if they were what they thought they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being.”

Goethe

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Theodore Roosevelt

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Gandhi
“Random Acts of Kindness, 1994″

“We realize that what we are accomplishing is a drop in the ocean. But if this drop were not in the ocean, it would be missed.”

Mother Theresa
“Random Acts of Kindness, 1994″

I was involved in an indie movie production (2005) as a volunteer runner, helping out and learning stuff while collecting mosquito bites hahaha… Anyway, I lost contact wity the crew and never knew if the movie was ever made until I found this link.

JUNGLE SPIRIT

If you are wondering what the film is about, here is the synopsis…

Sixty years after the end of World War Two,
an aging former officer of the Japanese Imperial Army journeys to Malaysia to exorcize horrible memories that have troubled him for the past six decades. It was in Malaysia at the close of the war that this man, as a member of a military command, participated in the execution of five young, beautiful local girls. He has been troubled ever since the event, tormented by recurring nightmares of the beheadings of the young women. In his troubled sleep, he dreams of opening a bag to find the severed head of one girl but can not see her face or remember distinctly the sequence of events that resulted in her execution.
The dream has followed him from place to place during the post-war years but is never completed in the full details of what happend that fateful day so long ago. He needs to remember.

He returns the place where it happened with unexpected consequences.

Here are the pics taken with the cast members.

Past scene

Future scene

I am on a site known as www.43things.com
It helps to keep track of your goals and places you want to visit. Plus you get tons of support from other members.
Here is the list of my goals. In the order of how popular they all are….

As I filled numerous forms over the years, one section always seem to bother me is the religion section and the race column. Does it even matter? I guess the surveyors are just doing their job breaking people into categories. Anyway, this brings me to my topic of the day. Religion!!!

What is your religion? When I was younger I would say that I was a Buddhist then later I was corrected when I was 13, with people telling me that I am Taoist because my family worships numerous gods and goddesses. Then at 14, a teacher told me that both were the same. Oh the confusion!

Ok, it is not that I do not know what religion I am. It is just that I do not know its proper term in English or Malay. In Hokkien, we call it ‘Pai Ang Kong’ roughly translated it means praying to gods and goddesses. That is what my family practices, we pray to the Lord Buddha as do we pay respect to Lord Muruga at a Hindu temple and Saint Anne in church. We pay respect and believe in the supernatural. But at home, we have a prayer room, with the Goddess Kwan Yin, Tua Pek Kong, Na Cha, the Ground god (I hope that is the proper translation) and a family shrine. Then we have the Jade Emperor at the balcony and of course the Kitchen God. I am also the God Child of Kwan Yin, many of my friends are too.

So with so many religious influences, what am I? I consider myself Buddhist, using the Kalama Sutta as my guide because it is my choice. I have finally made up my mind as soon as I read this Sutta. It was beautiful and realistic but most important of all; it really reached out to me. I know there will be people who will try to convert me. This has practically happen ever since I was born. But since I have found my abode, let me be, for I am only human. If I were to change my religion, the time will come. For now I am happy as I am.
In case you are wondering what is the Kalama Sutta, here it is.

Kalama Sutta

But after observation and analysis
when you find that anything agrees with reason
and is conductive to the good and benefit of one and all
then accept it and live up to it.
Buddha
(Anguttara Nikaya Vol. 1, 188-193 P.T.S. Ed.)

Religion is a personal choice. You may be born a Buddhist but I see nothing wrong if halfway through life, you would want to I see there is no right or wrong way of practicing religion as long as you do not go overboard. Religious fanatics go from being annoying to scary. It is good to be religious, I am not condemning it. However, there is always a middle path. Doing something to the extreme does not bring anything good in the end. Religion is always beautiful and full of meaning but the abuse of religion is just wrong.

For example, Islam is a very peaceful religion, it is just that fanatical practitioners have abused religion to support terrorism. These acts have given Islam a very bad name. I have many Muslims friends and they are not like that. In fact they do not approve of terrorist actions against anyone. However after September 11, 2001, the tolerance towards religion has reached its mark. People start to typecast and stereotype every Muslim to be potential terrorist. My professor at university was once held by customs officers at an airport in the West just because he had a full beard and carry the first name Mohammed. That name happens to be the most used first name in the whole world. Terrorists carry no religion. They have no particular shape, size or looks. So do not use religion as an excuse for hate crimes. I believe most religions advice their followers to be good caring human beings.

My view is as long we practice everything in moderation, we will be alright. Want to know why I did not say practice all good and moral values everyday? Human are basically just well.. human, we have an innate nature to be bad at times. When faced with such dilemmas, it is always good to choose the lesser evil.

Remember whatever you do, there is always karma. May peace be with you!

I got virtual pets now. I always wanted a hedgehog and a wolf.