connecting the dOts in life

Tuesday, 21 August 2007

Random thoughts

Was at the optician today when I came across something interesting on the shelf. Amongst rows of contact lens solution, there was one particular brand which stood out as it had a red sticker stuck across the front. It read " NON-HALAL".

Curious, I took that box and started reading the fine prints to see what so non-halal about it. Funny how I'm usually rather interested about this kinda stuff. The last time I saw the word "non-halal" used in a context that's not related to oral consumption was at Marks and Spencer, where there was a row of shoes that were lined with pig's skin. I can still vividly remember that scene very well. I was resting on the seats which people sat to try on shoes, waiting for my mum one day. Then, I saw a malay family walking past the non-halal row. The two adults in front saw that sign and immediately exchanged cautious looks. They turned around, only to see one of the boys holding the shoe up in the air, seemingly admiring it. I held by breath in anticipation of what's to happen next. The lady's face screwed up in mild horror as she shieked "JAGAN!! (don't)"

As a half Singaporean living in a so called muslim country, I get to witness very varied reactions and practices of muslims from both neighbouring countries. Of course, I respect the muslim religion of not coming into contact with pork. But I think it's the perception of what "contact" means that baffles me sometimes. In M, I hear stories of how some malays will even hold their breath when they pass by a bak ku teh stall. Or how cashiers will use an external object to hold up metal cans containing preserved pork to place them in plastic bags. I wonder whether these scenes can be seen in S. Probably I don't know enough malays in S to witness how things are there, but in M, it gets a little extreme, even to some malays. They claim that such things didnt happen in the past, so why are we witnessing these only now? hmmm. I guess it's just different perceptions, different intepretations. On a more macro level, that's precisely what's causing so much turmoil in the world today. Destruction caused by misjudgement and by several pockets of people misleading others into commiting crimes in their seemingly pursuit of religious martyrdom.

Gosh, that seems to be the only passage that's anything close to a GP answer I've written in almost 9 months! I don't even know how I managed to relate the lens solution to terrorism. Ms Chua would have called it "severe straying" or " Out of point" or she'll probably just draw one think red line across my paper. haha. But yea, it's one of the sad things in today's world. How religious misinterpretation can be so powerfully catastrophic.

Anyway, the lens solution contained Porcine Pancreatic Enzymes. Yucks!