Life has been very eventful and happening since my last post and I am back to blog about incidences which have occurred during this period of time which I feel are of significance in my life!
Incident 1: Cobra attack near miss
I was doing up the schedule for IPPT for my guys in the platoon at a wooden bench table near my workplace. While deep in thought, seetoh walked past from behind me and said, "John, ok, do not panic. Just listen to me, get your right leg out slowly, now your left, slowly." (Throughout this I was just obedient and did not think too much.. I just felt very ???)
When I got myself out and up from the wooden bench, seetoh then pointed to the bottom of the bench where I was sitting and to my horror, there was a black snake with its head showing in between the 2 wooden planks of the wooden structure! Immediately, I went to get my guys to get wooden sticks and called superiors for permission to kill the snake (I feared for the safety of my guys too). A short while later when I came into visual contact with the snake again, I saw for myself the full length of the snake. It was slightly less than 1.5m, with its hood spread out, meaning... what we encountered is a cobra -_-
By this time everyone was apprehensive about attempting to kill or capture the animal intruder.. It hastily made its escape beyond our compound. It was only after the incident that I realised how close I was to REAL danger, the cobra was like less than 15 cam away from me!
Through this incident, I think what I have learnt is that you cannot think what you have experienced in life thus far is probably the worst, you cannot be hasty to conclude that an experience which you have encountered is already a 'worst case scenario'. Possibilities are limitless! I can be maxed out in stress at one point in time, the next moment I will be maxed out in physical suffering but coming right up I can be just a heartbeat away from death! In conclusion, one cannot be narrow in our view towards life..
As christians, we do not know what tomorrow brings but what is vital is that we direct our focus to the one whom we know holds tomorrow.
Incident 2: Detention
I cannot elaborate much on this. My friends got into trouble with the law and I had to handcuff them myself. That sucked. Really BIG time.
I wonder to myself, if I am not diligent and fail to do my part for the salvation of those whom God has entrusted me with, those around me, I would be playing the role I played on that that day, escorting my friend to punishment, personally contributing to his loss of freedom.
I also reflected about the issue of moral courage. The nature of my job requires me to act firmly, fairly and without fear or favour. I did that in this incident, but it really bothered me a lot.. Being in such a position, I can see things with a larger view, see things deeper in some aspects, unfortunately, it is the sin of humans which I get to see in greater depth. Urgh, the abominable manifestation of sin.
I made up my mind that one of my objectives of wanting to be a commander was to change the way how soldiers are being managed, instead of commanding fear I wanted to talk sense into people to command respect. I failed, treating humans badly would would equate to reaping a negative response, treating humans well would do the same, they would just take advantage of you and go further in their misdeeds. The problem remains, humans...all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So I guess, what needs to be done has to be done after all..
