Hari Raya Haji!!

Eh.. It's a public holiday today! Finally I get to sleep till noon!! Hurray!! Even better: First half of school semester has ended! The study week (and consecutively, the common test) is here too!

Way cool!

Kinda found it hard to believe.. It's been more than a year since we left Hua Yi Secondary.. and nearly a year since we enrolled into our polytechnics.. Is it just me, or is time actually passing faster as the years go by? And heck, the week's over already. Whoa. To think that I used to count the weekdays off the calendar in anticipation of the oncoming weekends..

It's been awhile since I last crapped about stuff.. (What, 2-3 days ago? lolz) So let's get back to it.. And this time.. an all-time favourite subject, Religions. (Tad bit sensitive though)

Obviously, since it's Hari Raya Haji, might as well, right?

OK. This time of the year Muslims gather at their mosques to pray (as they usually do), but on this particular day, they slaughter a sheep in a sacrificial ceremony. (Got reminded by the newspaper, about delays in the shipment of "Sacrificial Lambs" and what not. Lolz)

Erm. Can someone tell me the date today? Is it the 21st of January, 1605? I mean, hey, we're livin' in the 22nd century already, and here we are, offering "sacrificial lambs" in a ceremony to "appease the god(s)"? *No offense intended* It could be understood that the ceremony has become a tradition.. but to what end? Pointless isn't it?

Could be a reason why terrorists (A.K.A. Muslim extremists in the M.East) keep preaching their crap and doing stupid shit.. A bomb every week.. Great.

Alright, no more about the Muslims. Then onto the very "environmentally-friendly" Buddhism (for the Chinese anyway). Look at the temples. What do people do in there? They burn incense, they burn paper (very environmentally friendly, huh?), they chant (soothing to some and annoying to others) and they gather late at night (for the decent of god(s) or whatever, as my mom says). Funeral-wise, noisy 5-day affairs, what with all the children and adults cryin' and screamin' in grief (Ok, understandable). As if that ain't enough, all the racket caused by the opera troupe (sorta like a final show for the dead), chanting monks (With their bells, fishes (Erm. Pardon me if I'm wrong. I think they call those wooden thingies "fish") and a procession at the end of the 5-day funeral with a band hammering away at their instruments with their mediocre skills along the way.

*Consider as well the ceremony of burning a mountain-load of "hell banknotes" and other "luxuries" (e.g. Cars, Credit cards, passport, clothes, etc.. -.-') All that paper and wood wasted, turned into hazardous smoke. Not to mention fire hazards.*

What a mess! I think the funeral's in part to wake up the dead or something. =D

Right then. No more about them. Onto another famous one. Christianity! As my dad (and my sister too, i think) describes them: marketeers and businessmen. Look at the way they ask for donations, the way they pull people into churches and trying their best to convert these blokes into tithing, praying, "blind-in-their-faith" believers. Then these believers move on to pull more blokes into churches and then "brain-washing" them into what i call "faith-zombies". *No offense intended* And the cycle repeats.. which is why you see more and more christians out there nowadays.. (My entire family has had their brush with Christianity, and my 2nd brother's now a Christian)

Well. First things first: I have absolutely nothing against any of these above mentioned religions, but just stating the silliest crap they do. All in blind faith.

While it is true that good things (sometimes) come outta these religions (Moral and Ethnic values), the bad things are the ones that hurt. Lots. Take for example the Catholic Father Kang and his embezzlement of church donations (Millions of dollars, Sing-dollar, not Rupiah, mind you). The Buddhists keep a low profile, and make it to the news once in awhile. The Muslims.. think of the extremists in M.East.

And that's just 3 religions outta Who-knows-how-many out there.

Personally, I think religion is a source of spiritual sustenance for people who needs it out there. The belief that a better life is out there somewhere or that some higher existence is looking out for them is a strong one. So strong that it can make people do impossible feats (Erm. No examples here.) So, religion is here to stay.

But you know what? Given the number of conflicts and disagreements each religion has with each other, sooner or later WW3 will erupt. Over religion. Not for world domination. (Heck, with money anyone can dominate the world. Imagine Bill Gates suddenly crashing every single exisying Microsoft operating system in the world. Think of the amount of chaos that'll ensue. Nowadays nothing works without computers.)^

So.. in the end.. what will this world end up becoming? I won't wanna know the answer to that.. I pity grandchildren's generation.. For they'll be the ones to suffer then.

Alright, No more.. I've spent too much time here already. G' Night.

^: Alright, you may argue about this part, saying that not every computer in the world operates on Microsoft O.S. But how many % of the computers in this world uses Microsoft O.S.? That little % left out ain't gonna be sufficient to cover the world's demand for computer assistance.. (Looks like we humans are already getting dependant on A.I... Humanity's future is in extreme peril..)