I was born anyway. Why? What the hell for. My ancestors and the ‘sophisticated’ educated society said that I was born for a purpose. And I have got this big problem since I was a mere two to three year old; what is this thing called ‘purpose in life’. If I become an average person, I am alright and if I question the existence of life, I become a not so average(?) man. Now who is this average person? Where is his/her house. What does it look like? I am looking for such a person. Scientifically and theologically there is this person. But when you or I, who are very common, search for such a person there are not any to be found. But we all try to be that average person.
There must be a stick to measure you as to be average or not. Where is it. Could any of the religious Masters tell me who holds this stick to measure the man for his average ness? So I went about asking questions from lots of Masters in various disciplines what and where this measuring stick is.
“John the Baptist Prepares the Way
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
"A voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.' "
John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
So the great man John the Baptist thought that Pharisees and Sadducees are below average without salvation. And then again:
“The Baptism of Jesus
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
Who started this baptising business?
Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."”
Aha now we got someone more than the average person top man.
But then again this is written few decades after the Jesus man’s death. So I feel sorry that I had to bring his name into it.
And years later in the kingdom of Iraq:
“* On May 15 last year, British soldiers in Basra came to the Mousa family home and told them they were looking for a neighbour who had been an officer in the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein. While they were searching they found a Kalashnikov rifle the family keeps for protection. This is permitted under current Iraq law and is common practice with families faced with the lawlessness that has gripped society since the US/UK invasion of the country.
Abdel Jabr Mousa attempted to explain the reasons for the rifle to the soldiers. His 23-year-old son, Bashar, explained what happened:
“My father tried to explain to them, but they just started hitting him in the head with the wooden butt of the Kalashnikov.... They dragged him out of the house, bleeding from his leg. Then one of them told me to come with him. He said, ‘Give me the rest of the weapons.’ I told him there were no more.
“Then he took me to another room and started beating me. He put his hands around my throat and pushed me up against a wall. His hands were so tight I lost consciousness.... Then he dragged me to the personnel carrier.”
Bashar Mousa says that he and his father were taken along with the neighbour who was an officer to a British Army base in the former house of Ali Majid (dubbed “Chemical Ali” in the media). They were forced to wear hoods and taken to a room where they were beaten and kicked for an hour. Bashar could hear the screams of his father. After his father stopped screaming, Bashar was taken to a different room where he was given food and medical attention, and a change of clothes. He never saw his father alive again.
After one night, Bashar was taken to US-run Camp Bucca in nearby Umm Qasr, south of Basra, where he was held until June 20. Although Bashar was a civilian, he was held at Camp Bucca as an enemy prisoner of war. The British Independent on Sunday newspaper has seen his prisoner’s wristband and his Red Cross POW papers, number IQZ-120259-01. His release papers say there is no evidence to doubt he is a civilian.
The family has said that they only discovered where the two men had been taken by a tragic coincidence. The soldiers were searching for another man, who they identify as Kareem, and threatened to arrest his wife and daughters unless he gave himself up. The soldiers left a message that Kareem should surrender to a Sergeant Henderson of the Black Watch at Ali Majid’s former house.
For three days, the eldest son, Amar, called at the base asking for news of his father. On the third day he was taken to a military doctor who told him his father was dead. He said the body, which was bruised and covered in blood, was in Basra hospital.
“When I found the body, there was blood in his mouth,” said Amar. “There were wounds all over him, and a huge blue bruise like a boot print on his left side. I saw bruises over his heart and the outline of a military boot. All the body was covered in mud and there were outlines of finger marks on his skin.”
The death certificate, signed by Dr Haider Mohammed Saleh, stated the cause of death as “sudden heart attack: infarction of the heart muscles.” The family was never given a copy of the British military death certificate. They are demanding an investigation, and several family members have been interviewed as witnesses. Ammar said the investigators, who are refusing to comment on the case, told him the family was unlikely to get compensation.”
WSWS By Harvey Thompson10 March 2004
So if I have Chinese blood can I call myself a bloody Chinese?
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