... a sign??

Arriving back from visits on Easter weekend, I was vegetating in front of the tv when I caught a news article about yet another quake off of Sumatera. The seismic map shown seemed to indicate that Malaysia was pretty much "protected" by Sumatera itself, so I didn't think twice about it.... until a day later, when I finally unearthed my handphone from my bag, and saw sms'es from my brother and mom about how the apartment building in PJ was SWAYING and that they were evacuating the building...

oh my....

The impact on Malaysia/KL occurred around midnight - in a way that was an ideal time... After all, if it had struck during the daytime, ALL high-rise buildings, including the world's tallest twin towers, would have been choc-full of people... I can just imagine the panic that would have ensued within KL's Golden Triangle! At least with it striking late night, families could escape together - no kids stuck at home with a maid who freezes in terror, y'know?

Oh - and at least this quake did NOT create a tsunami to go with it...

Once again I must state that I am surprised at Malaysia experiencing such tremors... It's so rare for us to feel them, and now it's what - 2 in 3 months?

And what *is* it about that faultline that has shaken us twice in three months?

And how about this - for those who want "signs": One struck the day after Christmas, and this recent one just after Easter, which happen to be the main "Christian" events. Is "God" trying to tell us something?

For those who picked up on it - yes, I put Christian in quotes - you know why, right? When the roman Emperor Constantine attempted to consolidate his power base through Christianity, some "reverse engineering" was done to superimpose Christian events on preexisting ones. After all, so long the common people still had their few festivals and days of cheer that helped alleviate the drudgery of life during those times, it didn't really matter *which* deity was officially worshipped.... Quantity was more important than quality.... hmmmm, that sounds soooo familiar....

1. "Christmas" - it's NOT Jesus' birthday... if you remember that December 22nd is the shortest day of the year, and if you can put yourselves into the shoes of the people of ancient times who did not know about earth spinning around its axis and around the sun, every year around this time they saw the days getting shorter and shorter (and of course the nights getting longer and longer) and they would wonder it the end of the world was coming... then december 23, 24th would show that the days' decline wsa reversed - days were going to get longer again, whoohoo, so they would end up having a huge festival to celebrate the triumph of the light over the dark... THAT is what is celebrated, not Jesus' birthday... Oh - a side note - nowadays it's referred to as Krismas in Malaysia, but I still remember when I was younger, it being called Hari Natal.

2. "Easter" - there is the resurrection story... which just so happens in the start of springtime... when the earth shrugs off the last feelers of winter, and the process of greening the earth happens... the time to celebrate rebirth, copulation, fertility... and the festival is actually named after Eostre of the Dawn, tho there is also a Hindu deity Usha with a similar function. The symbols associated with Easter - eggs, rabbits - are all fertility symbols. btw - did you ever wonder about the practice of providing "bunga telur" at Malay weddings??

I hope I taught some people something new today....

Peace.