VALUE OF A MAN

There is really a thin line between pride and arrogance. If someone has a strong value or principle in life, there can only be one outcome of it – pride or arrogance. We all must be proud of ourselves and what we stand for. But that pride must not turn into arrogance. This principle is true in all aspects of life, whether in religions, cultures, values, careers, titles, you name it.

Ip Man speaks in the name of Wing Chun. He respects Wing Chun and proud to apply it as his value in his life. But whenever his opponents were defeated and admitted, “Your Kung Fu is better than mine”, Ip Man replied, “It is not about whose Kung Fu is better. The real problem is you”.

Proud men are those who hold their values, but always remain open and respect toward others. Proud man is always willing to learn from others.

On the other hand, arrogant men are those who always think that their values are better than others. Arrogance always speak that they and their values are the best and everybody should become like them.





No matter what we stand for, arrogance is not an option.

Pride is not arrogance.

Be proud of yourself, but don’t let that pride turn into arrogance.

It is not about which kung fu, religions, cultures, values are the best. The real problem is you… and your ego…

Ivan the Freelancer

PATHS TO REDEMPTION

They said, “There are many paths to redemption. Not all of them peaceful”. I certainly agree. But that is not a reason to banish someone from a church. That is definitely not an excuse to banish people from their church. As redemption is the right for every man, and so every church should serve as place to help those in need.

Solomon Kane who did terrible things in the past was banished from a church. When he wanted to redeem himself and tried his best to become “A man of peace”, the church sent him away. The church may have left him, but God never leave His people, no matter how bad they are.




God led Solomon to another church – a true church in a form of families who helped him with sincerity. That family helped him even after they knew how “evil” Solomon was in the past. The family treated Solomon like one of their own and he finally became a much better man than before. A true church is not inside a building. A true church resides in your heart and in the hearts of people around you.
But the world didn’t always responds like the way we wanted. Solomon tried his best not to get in the fight and avoid violence at all cost, even if he was hit, beaten up, and robbed by others. But by the time the evil took the lives of people who had helped him, he was forced to once again unleash what he always did best in the past, fighting and killing.

Solomon once again became a killing machine, but this time he was fighting for a noble cause. When no one dared to stand against evil, he was forced to once again swing his sword and guns in order to banish the evils that claimed his land. God never leave Solomon as He never leaves us if we are fighting for a noble cause.

A true church does not always reside inside the buildings. A true church is inside your heart and in the hearts of other people. God is always with us.

Prayers are not always in the form of words as faith itself is not words. Faith is fulfilled with sincere actions and deeds.

Many people hide their true faces behind religions. Few people dare to stand against evil, inside or outside them.

Ivan the Freelancer

LIKE THERE IS NO TOMORROW

It was between reality and dream, as I walked under the heat of the sun. “Funny, I used to remember there are supposed to be buildings and people around here. Where is everybody?”

Then a man came and walked beside me. He asked me where I was going.

“To work”. I replied.

“Work for what?” He asked again.

“For tomorrow”. I said.

“But what if there is no tomorrow?” He insisted.

“Then I will live like there is no tomorrow”. I replied.

The man shook my hand, “My name is “Laziness”, but you can call me “Surrender”. Sorry to bother you”. Soon after saying that, he vanished.

Maybe this world will change. Maybe it won’t. But surrender is not an option. There is no fate but what we make. We can never see tomorrow, but we can thank God by giving our best today.

Walk like there is no tomorrow.

Fight like there is no tomorrow.

Pray like there is no tomorrow.

Live like there is no tomorrow.

Ivan the Freelancer

EVEN AFTER DEATH

For most people, waiting is the most annoying and tiring job in the world. Maybe that’s why they often say, “I’m tired of waiting”. How long are you willing to wait for someone you love? 5 minutes, 1 day, 1 month, or 1 year? How about 10 years? Most people couldn’t stand to wait even for an hour or two.




I was wondering what’s dwelling inside Hachi’s head that gave him the patience and dedication of 10 years waiting for his master’s return, everyday, always in the same place and at the same time.





Maybe he didn’t realize that his master had passed away and hoped that one day he will see his master again, walking towards him from the door in Shibuya Train Station.

Maybe he knew that his master had passed away, but continued to wait anyway, just to respect his deceased master.

Maybe he just wants to show the people around him, how much he loves his master.

Maybe his master’s soul came by to Hachi and whispered, “Wait for me there, and when the time comes, I will take you with me”.

Maybe God told Hachi to wait there, so that we humans can learn the true meaning of “loyalty”.

Only God knows…

We humans only knew the oath or vow of “Until Death Do Us Part”. Apparently for Hachi, he took the oath to a greater limit, “Even after Death Do Us Part”.

Don’t let the meaning of loyalty died with Hachi.

Ivan the Freelancer

VOICE OF NATURE

It is said that God created the world before He created the humans. Humans were created from this world itself. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. So we live and die along with this world. It is also said the energy that we absorb from nature are borrowed and never given. Unfortunately, we always have to return all the things we borrow.

Can you imagine the air that we breathe is actually borrowed? The air is free of charge, but the trees that release it are not. We are borrowing the energy of air from those trees. Not to mention all the “natural” food from the nature. We owe so much to the nature, yet we are destroying it slowly.

This is our land… But it is not given… It is only borrowed. Don’t just take whatever you want, because you will have to return it later on.

Nature does not take sides, but it can “hear” our deeds. Nature nurtures us but can also punish – Nature can give and take lives as well.

Ivan the Freelancer

BEING DIFFERENT

If only we can choose our own identity, or where and when we are born, than maybe we can be whoever we want to be. People cannot choose their skin and blood color. Whether you are born in the west or the east does not make you any more superior than others.

Is being different really necessary? Why people tend to consider anything different as a threat? The reason we are constantly at war, is maybe because we cannot accept the fact that we are all different.

Like John Lennon said in his “Imagine” song, “You may say I’m a dreamer… But I’m not the only one…”

Ivan the Freelancer

YOU AND YOURSELF

What is real and what is not? It is hard to tell, especially in this cyber era. Life is dangerous… That is true and that is why surrogates are invented. We can be anyone we want to be – men/women, tall/short, long/short hairs, white/black skin – anything you can think of… We can run our daily life “risk-free”, physically and virtually… Perfect… Human perfection – What could go wrong?

The problem occurs when it becomes a lifestyle… and lifestyle causes addiction – anything that you cannot live without. You cannot resist yourself from hiding behind your so-called-perfect surrogates. It is the “you” that is not actually you. So the people will wonder, is that really you? The most important thing in this life is getting trust from other people – which is not gonna happen if you are covering yourself with surrogates.

Lying to other people is one thing, but lying to yourself is another. By hiding your true self, you are denying yourself and living in a lie. Nevertheless, people will find out about your true identity and who you really are anyway. A happy man is the one who truly satisfied with himself or herself.

Come to think of it, we are already living our life as “half-surrogates” by now – by hiding behind our BlackBerry, the Internet, chat rooms and other cyber stuffs. But who gives a shit? It is fun… isn’t it?

As long as we are still remain as humans who depend only on ourselves.

Ivan the Freelancer

REVENGE IS “NOT” SWEET

People do nice things to others…Yes, that is natural. People also do bad things to others… Yes, that is “also” natural. There are people in this world who feel that certain people need to be taught a lesson. They think that certain people need to be taught some manners. Yes, they have their own agenda and some of them even live with hatred and urges for revenge for whole their life.

Blood for blood – soul for soul… Maybe that was “the thoughts” Benjamin Barker had in mind when he returned to London. Clouded by rage and vengeance, he was determined to seek revenge upon Judge Turpin – the evil man who was responsible for Barker’s miserable lives. He became another person – He became Sweeney Todd with totally new character and attitudes. But the question was… was it worth it?

There are only two kinds of people in this world – People with the ability to love and people with the ability to hate. Love and hate can emerge at the same time. They can also be mixed up. Bearing a grudge is painful, although most people have no choice. Bearing a grudge makes us become like the living dead. We cannot think clearly, we loose our feelings – and above all, we loose our conscience.

People are doomed since they loose the ability to love. So if you can never forget and can never forgive – just make sure you still have “love” – or the ability to love.










Ivan the Freelancer

RESPECTED OR FEARED

There is one quality that is desired by all men in this world – Power. Among those powerful men in the world, there are those who are respected or those who are feared. The Untouchables showed clear examples of both. Eliot Ness from the police force was assigned to bring down one of the most powerful man to justice, Al Capone.

With all previous attempts failed to take Capone down, Ness realized that he was cornered because almost all parts of the city were bribed and controlled by Capone. Ness found he could not trust anyone, until he met Jim Malone, an incorruptible police, who was driven away from the corps.

Malone taught Ness a very important lesson. “If you do not want to get rotten apples, don’t get them from the barrels. Get them straight from the trees.” With half of the city police corrupted, Ness and Malone had to recruit their team from the new candidates who are still trained. They are rookies, but still fresh and clean. Since then, Ness had the right people on board to bring down Capone.

Be thankful if you are still fresh and clean, because you still have a chance to be respected. Be careful not to choose apples from the barrels, but choose them straight from the trees. Evil triumphs only because they are feared – for they can never be respected.

Whether being respected or feared, it all depends on what you do and how you do things to others. Ness and Capone built their power and reputation through different paths. A man cannot be respected and feared at the same time.

So, what kind of a man are you? Respected or feared?

Ivan the Freelancer

HUMANITY AND ALIENITY

Whether you are welcomed or not in this world, are not yours to decide. Like I said, this world is not fair – and it will never be. There are many facts proved that we are not alone in this universe. One huge alien ship was stranded and hovering aimlessly above the city of Johannesburg. They did not do anything and we came prepared and bashed our way into their doors.

Then we found groups of Aliens. They don’t look too good. They look unhealthy, confused, scared and disoriented. Well, what would you expect? They are stranded in our “strange” place – far away from home. Unable to go home, they are forced to take refuge in slums area below their ship.

But what do we do to them? We overrun them with terrors. We make them target practices. Even worse, we make experiments out of them. We are curious about their organs, weapons and technologies. Instead of communicating with them in civilized manners, we took them by force. We humans tend to look at something different as threats. We are even terrorizing and exploiting our own kind too.

What have we humans become? We are losing our humanity. Some people said that this is a social issue. But I said simply because we have lost the ability to accept and understand – that we are all different and not perfect. Differences are supposed to be respected and united. Differences are supposed to bring people together to live in harmony. But then again, maybe because we are not perfect, so this world will never be either.

Wikus Van De Merwe is the man who truly understands about being deserted and not welcomed. Being infected by the alien’s DNA, he became the most wanted man on Earth. Everybody wants a piece of him – simply because he is different. No place for him, but in District 9.

Sometimes we will never know… What it feels like… How it feels like… Until we become one of them…

Ivan the Freelancer