Be of good cheer!

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MY niece Amy is a dollar-wise young girl.

We were in Singapore two weeks ago, sharing breakfast at an old coffeeshop at Tiong Bahru, selling only yang-tau-ho – few pieces of bean-made cakes with meehoon.

The first day we (together with her parents) just ordered without looking at the price. The second day, she was smart to order the ordinary – SGD1 cheaper.

“It’s RM3 for one extra piece of bean-curb product. If you do not specify, they serve the SGD5 special which means we have to pay RM12 more,” she said, clearly annoyed.

But we all had a good laugh, despite having to look after a sick loved one who is seeking medical treatment, and of course, to pull out our miserable RM3 to buy a Singful dollar’s worth of goods and service.

I am “loud enough” to say I find tremendous joy in such difficult situation for having a niece who is, in every sense, a modern professional woman executive, but yet prudent and ringgit-wise.

Yes, it is August – actually not to the least I can consider a good month for me.

But what’s so special about August? Or what’s so gloomy about August?

The Malaysian news headlines have been very bleak – 1MDB, shrinking ringgit and not many “awl-ful” statements from the leaders. If we count on the news to try to find a little happiness, it is near impossible.

Even on a happy day when Fraser-Pryce roared to her third women’s 100 metres world title in Beijing on Monday, someone could be so unhappy that The Borneo Post did not get to carry the event on its Tuesday print copy – which that someone claimed was completed at 9.40pm and demanded an explanation in a letter faxed to my newsroom, marked “urgent” from the Land Below The Wind.”

As a Christian, I am also troubled over whether Christians should “bersih” or not “bersih.” This does contribute to my unhappiness because without the blessings of the authority, participating in a rally is civil disobedience – openly flouting the law.

But I need not despair because Bersih 4 is a legal peace gathering as news come in that the State police have given the green light and the owner of the venue (MBKS) has given consent for Padang Song Kheng Hai to be used.

While it is a legal peace gathering in Sarawak, Christians in the peninsula could have this enlightenment from a pastor who is widely read and has, to his credit, many credible articles and books.

I quote Pastor Tan:

Christians believe that governments have been put in place by God to run countries on His behalf (Romans 13:1–7) but the mandate is for governments to reward good and punish evil.

Their authority is not absolute. In Matthew 22:21, Jesus says that we are to “give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” (NIV).

That means Caesar is NOT God. And while we respect the legitimate authority of governments, especially when they do what they are supposed to do, we are not to accord them absolute authority. That belongs to God alone.

So there may be times when followers of Jesus may have to participate in acts of civil disobedience – for example when we need to make a clear statement that the government of the day has seriously and blatantly violated basic tenets of justice and morality. Many of us believe we have reached such a moment in Malaysian history.

Pastor Tan believed Bersih 4 had passed all the guidelines of civil obedience as provided for in the New Dictionary of Christian Ethics and Pastoral Theology, except that some would argue we should wait for the next general election to voice our concerns.

However, Pastor Tan reasoned:

I am among those who think that will be a bit too late for the welfare of the country – the economy continues to tank day by day – and that more time will only give wrong doers more time to hide their evil deeds.

Yes, his perspective makes me a much happier woman this week and convinces me “it is now”.

As I wrote this, I did not know how “Bersih 4” would turn out but when you read this, you have the answer.

But I am happy to firmly believe those who have chosen to march have based their decisions on conviction and not fear.

What’s so special about August then?

If you do not know, August is a “Happiness Happens Month” as declared by a group of people who call themselves “Secret Society of Happy People” formed in August 1988.

The Society supports people who want to share their happiness with the mottos “Happiness Happens” and “Don’t even think of raining on my parade” and to stimulate people’s right to express their happiness as loud as they want.

The founder Pamela Gail Johnson founded the Society with the main idea of creating a safe place where people can share their happy moments, without being discouraged by the parade rainers.

Since 1998, she has been managing the Society by writing posts and updating social media information and answering questions on her blog Ask Pamela Gail: Where happiness meets reality.

Pamela is giving people advice on how to handle their unhappy moments and learn the lesson out of each and every one of them.

Indeed, we should not be troubled non-stop by the headlines and swing our mood with these rainers.

We can turn our moody Monday into mighty Monday, our terrible Tuesday into terrific Tuesday, weary Wednesday into wonderful Wednesday, tiresome Thursday into thrilling Thursday, foggy Friday into fantastic Friday, sad Saturday into splendid Saturday and slow Sunday into smashing Sunday!

Solomon, the wise man, had declared: “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine” and should we not agree that a cheerful spirit is a wonderful stimulant?

A little girl was brought up among Christians who thought it was pious and well-pleasing to the Lord to walk around with a dreary holier than thou expression.

One day, she visited a farm and saw a horse and was greatly delighted. She was heard to exclaim: “Oh, horsey, you must be a very good Christian, you have such a long face!”

Remember how Jesus came walking on the waves in the dark of the sea and reassured his frightened and bewildered disciples?

He comforted: “Be of good cheer!”