"What we do in life echoes in eternity."

I didn't like the movie Gladiator that much coz the premise was too tried-and-tested - man tries to be hero and eventually sacrifices himself. The first time I saw this type of movies was at Braveheart and that made a huge impact on me. When I saw Gladiator, I was like...okay. When it came to 300, I could predict what was going to happen after the first 15 minutes.

Still, the quote from the movie was quite memorable. Not just memorable, perhaps there is great wisdom in it as well.

The choices we make in life are often decided glibly on a whim or fancy. Yet our choices are perhaps the closest meaning to the concept of self. When I introduce myself as Brandon, I am not saying, "Hi I'm Brandon the engineer/teacher/doctor". I am also not saying, "Hi I'm Brandon, the Malaysian/Singaporean/Canadian". I am actually saying, "Hi I'm Brandon, the person". But what does it mean to be a person? Is our nationality, religion, race or accomplishments factors that govern our identity? Yes, but only to a certain and limited extent. I would argue that more important than all these, it is the choices we make that come closest to describing who we are. We are free to make choices in life...to be generous or selfish, ambitious or laid-back, affectionate or uncaring. Some would say that it is our personality that determines our identity, but in a sense, our personality is also created from our choices, and our personality is never set in stone. Furthermore, it is entirely up to us to decide whom we want to marry, which university to attend, what occupation to take up, what house to buy, what car to own, where to live...the list goes on. I propose then that the main determinant of our identity lies in our choices...choices that we have made in the past, that we are making in the present, and that we will make in the future.

Incidentally, I'm watching the series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles now while awaiting the new season of Heroes. One quote from the movie stands out in relevance to this entry.

"There is no fate, but what we make for ourselves"

Perhaps that is not entirely true. I believe in a Divine Being and perhaps even in some form of destiny, but I also believe that we as men have to cooperate in fulfilling our destiny (or perhaps potential would be a more palatable word to some). So the next time you are faced with a decision making occasion, take time to think through your choices, for in making the decision, we assert the reality that we exist.

Just gone through the second rite before baptism, the Rite of Election at the church of St Mary's of the Angels on Saturday. Now all that's left is baptism during Easter .

Some pictures from the Rite of Election:

I'm amazed with this particular video that I saw: http://youtube.com/watch?v=A2ufP1DQsO8. The blend and harmony is amazing, and the video was quite touching and uplifting as well. Other samples of their songs can be heard at www.hangad.com. The harmony in most of their songs are very pleasing, though some of them are in Tagalog I presume. Even their rendition of popular favourites like Silent Night is awesome!

When I first started this blog, I used the Baba Yetu song from the Civilizations 4 game as background music, but due to some, ahem, complaints, I decided to remove the background music. Its been more than a year sincethen and I still think this song is perhaps one of the most inspiring music that I've heard! Whats cooler still, it was originally composed as theme music of a computer game! The Lord's Prayer, in Swahili, the ever so cool and catchy Baba Yetu: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Tmut6FBx4xk.

Switchfoot's coming to this part of the region, and they're having their Singapore concert on 31 January. I've decided to go for probably my first concert in 27+ years of my life. I hope I won't be 'beautifully letdown'.  Anyone else interested?