World Interfaith Harmony is only the beginning

"Faith is often criticized as an instigator of conflict.  However, Global Peace Foundation and many organizations that promote interfaith cooperation, believe in the moral imperative of faith leaders to be catalysts for peace and social cohesion." (quoted from GPF article "Every Week is Good for Interfaith"  

I could not agree more with the assertion being made by the Global Peace Foundation in this quote. In spite of the negative stigma of religion in mainstream media as the cause of conflict, in our personal experiences most people recognize that faith is what brings us together, that bonds our families, that is the moral glue of our communities.

Interfaith forum at the Global Peace Convention 2013 in Malaysia

In truth, it is a shame that as people of faith we have allowed the politicization of our core beliefs in some radical circles to justify horrendous violence and hatred. That is why during this 'World Interfaith Harmony Week', it is a fitting time to come together as faith leaders and re-affirm the common core ethical principles and shared values that we all profess to be the true nature of faith as a vehicle for peace.

That is why I was so happy to read about the work of GPF in Nigeria with interfaith retreats that remind faith and youth leaders of our most essential identity as 'One Family Under God', which is the basis to overcome prejudice and misunderstandings between disparate groups. Let's continue this type of positive efforts that faith leaders are best at as the most genuine and accurate expression of faith. In truth, "World Interfaith Harmony" is only the beginning. It is having people of faith work together to create a peaceful world that should be our greater aspiration.

Never do something half-hearted

I realized that if you are going to do something, you should put 100% of your effort into it. Otherwise, you don't get a full experience and you don't learn a full lesson from that experience.

If we go through life only giving half our effort in every task, we end up with a whole lot of meaningless experiences that don't really teach us anything, because we don't know what would have really happened if we put in our whole sincerity. 

Keeping a bigger perspective

A lot of times it's easy to get caught up in our own situation and we lose sight of the bigger picture. It's easy to get caught up in our emotions and forget the grander scheme of things. Yet the scary thing is that included in the bigger perspective is what really matters: everything besides myself.

That is why we should constantly train ourselves to keep a bigger perspective in whatever we do. Usually we focus inwardly when we face overwhelming challenge - or on the other extreme when we feel complete self-satisfaction. It is the two fogs of self-pity and arrogance that come and block our view of what we should be focused on, that keeps us from fulfilling our higher calling.

Boulder River trail, WA - Dec 15, 2014

We can fight this self-centered perspective by always remembering to be grateful for all that we've been given, that we definitely didn't deserve or earn, but was given to us. And thus we can be humbled to always recognize the bigger perspective, and offer our lives for a meaningful purpose that benefits the whole.

The Seahawks almost made it.... almost

In the deciding play of the Superbowl, the Seahawks had just made a miraculous catch that put them in the 5-yard line with 20 seconds left in the game. The game was clearly within their reach, and one can imagine the adrenaline and pressure put upon the team in that moment.

However, in that moment, the team made a rash decision to try to throw the Patriots off guard with an unexpected, risky play: a quick pass play into the end zone, aiming to carry their momentum with a quick finish when the rational course of action would be to run the ball in.

It is obvious that this was a reckless decision as it proved when the Patriots intercepted the ball to win the game. There was enough time and 4 downs left for several running touchdown attempts but instead they chose to take the risky course in a flood of high emotion.

This reminds me about the importance of having genuine care and concern in every small decision and action we make in life. We may make it to the 1-yard line, but without the well deliberated decision in the final moment, the whole effort could be lost.

Though this may be the end for the Seahawks for this year's Superbowl, it is still a valuable lesson the team and all of us can apply to our lives from now on.

The life-long mindset of a patriot

"There's really no such thing as a patriot before he's dead. Why? No matter how much hardship he has gone through, if today he utters just one word of regret, he can't be a true patriot. No matter how much of a patriot he has been, if he turns his back on his country right now, then he becomes a traitor."

Every moment in life is significant and meaningful.

When we say we will give our lives for something, we don't just mean we will perform the act that will cause our death for that cause, we mean that we will also dedicate every precious moment of our life before then as well.

Somehow today these words spoke to me as I began my household chores, namely cleaning the kitchen. I realized that even cleaning my kitchen, small as it may seem, should be an act of patriotism. If I want to serve my nation, I could first start by cleaning my dirty kitchen, and cleaning it well.

After watching 'American Sniper', patriotism has become more real to me even as a civilian, as I saw that even for our armed services the greatest challenges often come when they return home. In the movie the main character struggled on returning from war because he felt compelled to continue his service yet so far removed from his accustomed means of doing so. Eventually he find his way to contribute by helping fellow veterans also recover from war trauma.

It is the challenge on all of us to find how we can become true patriots and responsible global citizens in our day to day lives, regardless of our occupations.

It can start with a step as small as cleaning a dirty kitchen.

Attitude determines outcome

As promised, today's soccer match was another game for the record-books. 

This time we had more players come out, yet somehow when the teams were chosen, my team had more players and everyone agreed unanimously that my team had the advantage in our collective skill. 

But surprisingly, once the game was underway, we kept losing points. By half-time, we were down about 6-3. I was perplexed. That's when I realized - it was our attitude. We were too confident because we all thought we had the advantage, so we had let our guard down. 

In the second half, even without my saying anything to the effect of what I had realized, we started picking up our game. We utilized our strengths and started playing as a team. 

I realized that even a small change in my attitude can make a big difference for my team, even without my saying a word. That is the power of attitude.

A fight worth fighting

In this week's epic soccer match, Wilder and Kaz faced off against myself and 4 little league-rs for the ultimate show-down.

Up to the final moment, the game was neck to neck as the extraordinary talent of the Peru-Japan duo was matched by the passing skills of the 4 munchkins & the Neymar Santos Jr.-jerseyed coach (that's me).

After a prolonged fight to the last minute, the outnumbered duo defeated us 22-20. Yet what we all gained outweighed the losses.

Every team is full of unique strengths and weaknesses. For us, we had strength in numbers - for the other team, they had strength in skill and ability. Yet it was when we did not hinder ourselves by dwelling in our weaknesses and focused on our strong points that we could work effectively and score.

Stay tuned for next week's match and the valuable lessons that await us!