The Altar of Existence

On an undisturbed day at the office, I usually work non-stop from 10.30am to 6pm, without stopping for lunch or coffee break. Today is one of those days. Despite a long day at the office, I'm still not able to accomplish as much as I wanted to. Everyday is a struggle for greater productivity. But at least today, time was utilized fully. That makes it a satisfying day.

Having had my usual vegetarian Monday dinner, I'm back home relatively early because I decided to blog from home instead of at a cafes. I was actually tempted to postpone today's blogging session because I still plan to put in another session of work tonight. I have quite a backlog of work and I'm eager to clear them all within this week.

But I also want to maintain this habit of blogging weekly. So here I am typing these aimless lines. Blogging can be a relaxing break from work--a bit like letting loose your fingers on the piano keyboard. Blogging like this brings back a lot of pleasant memories from those days when I was doing it on a daily basis in Indonesia.

The news from Indonesia today is however rather grim and sad--more than a thousand people killed when a tsunami hit the town of Palu in Sulawesi. It brought back many sad memories of the one in 2004 which hit Sumatra and Sri Lanka. I consider myself lucky that during my years of travelling and living in Indonesia, I've only experienced some minor tremors in Jakarta. Whenever natural disasters like this happen, some will say it is God's wrath; the more philosophically inclined ones will plunge into a discussion on theodicy: why do bad things happen to good people.

It is an age-old question that yields no satisfactory answer. The universe is the way it is. The human race has no special position in it. There is no guarantee that we as a species will never be wiped out from the face of the earth. We are but one of the myriads of manifestations of intelligence in the universe. We come into existence, like a flower that blooms momentarily in the forest before fading away. While it is in full bloom, let us honour its moment of beauty.

Work to me is like that: it is honouring Life. Work is an offering on the altar of existence. Like this simple blog post, like my next work session which shall begin after I click publish.