I don't read Sun Tzi's "Art of Warfare"!

This is my first in another blog series. Having soaked myself in the workplace coming to 7 years now, sometimes floating with ease, sometimes at the brink of drowning, other times wading in murky waters, I think it is time to write a blog specifically about the ideologies, philosophies in the workplace. I’m not super experienced. These are just random musings of my own. I’ll take it as a “letters to God and fellow friends” of sorts to share about. All are free to input and feedback. I will do my utmost to refrain from personal attacks on particular people, organisations, nationalities. This is where I appeal to you my reader audience to act as a “co-pilot”, slapping me awake lest I start going into that forbidden zone. Thank you! :)

Today’s topic will touch on the rationale behind the title of my blog. I don’t remember when people started officially associating workplace with warfare. I suppose the roots behind the term “everyday is a battle” are hard to trace. However, when people started openly recommending reading Sun Tzi’s “Art of Warfare” to apply in the workplace context, I started becoming unsettled. Pardon me but it is really too “in your face”. Must we really sink to this “I want the life jackets, all of them for me”, while depriving others. Do we really have so little faith that there aren’t enough to go around? Too bad that under situations of stress, I too tend to slip into this mode, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously.

Here then we trace the ends for justifying the use of warfare. Historically, warfare is engaged only in situation when a party feels that its survival is threatened. At least that is what the party which initiates the war openly claims. Let us then look at the end results of war. There will always emerge a “winner versus loser” situation, at least in the open. A certain party has to concede defeat before the other can outright claim victory.

However no matter what, there in fact is no concept of absolute victory in any war. No matter what weapons, strategies are employed, livelihoods are disrupted, and lives will be lost. I’d rather term it as “relative victory”. This would mean a “my damages are less than yours” point of view.

I’m no “make love not war” hippy though. Just imagine if UK and USSR hadn’t finally “woke up” after Hitler moved in Poland; US hadn’t stepped in after Pearl Harbour. The question then is more of a “when” rather than a “yes or no”.

Now, we relate it back to the workplace, where my argument then comes in. For the workplace, if we employ warfare strategy, we are employing a mentality which is to vanquish the opponent at all costs, such that they do not even survive… Is it necessary? Must we be on such an offensive mode all the time? Do we need to be so merciless? Are we under such a grave threat that we have no assurance that any being is able to provide for us anymore?

Some people argue that they are employing warfare methods at work for defense purposes. Then my rationale is this: no matter which term you use for justifying your reasons for warfare, be it offense or defense, you already have the mentality of not sparing your opponent. The opponent is left with no escape and ends up dead or a prisoner. Of course when this is applied in the workplace, the outcome is displayed on a psychological rather than literal sense.

I don’t have any wonderful solution to this. I engage in this warfare too. However I detest it! I can only pray that approval and endorsement of this warfare mindset or mentality never takes root in me. I hope that it never takes root in you too. Using the analogy of a farmer, this mindset is a weed which I'm constantly uprooting daily. Always pray for wisdom to identity whether the situation is a potential Poland or Pearl Harbour in our workplace, such that it warrants us to finally engage this mindset.

Movie Mayhem with God Part 7: Wu Xia

Finally! Able to sit down to catch a good movie in theatres after so long. (I've actually watched another movie just days before this one, but was so insulted by its lameness and so ashamed of my stupidity and curiousity in going to watch it... I think by now you may have known which movie I'm mentioning about... :P )

Anyway, I was supposed to have was Wu Xia much much earlier ago with an ex-colleague of mine when we met up. However she had disclosed to me that she was a bit uncomfortable with watching in as she didn't like the "Wu Xia" concept, which she feels maybe against the lines of Christian teachings. Eventually, by God's plans, we didn't manage to watch it that day, and it was only till today was I able to catch the film.

Maybe due to my liberalness cum being an avid swordfighting novel fan since childhood, I feel that actually it all depends on how you interpret the movie. If you pray to God, asking him to show you his teachings in whatever you partake. This crucial aspect is how we relate and reconcile everything back to Him, the famous loving God with "all of heart, mind and soul".

In the movie, Donnie Yen plays a ex-killer, who deserted his murderous clan 10 years ago in search of a peaceful life, due to his guilt and remorse over a gruesome murder of an entire family, in particular one young victim. He has settled down in a village as a papermaker, married a virtuous village widow, and now has a happy family of two sons. However to his horror, his past catches up with him when two killers from a rival clan happen to pass the village and recognise him and launch an attack to kill him. In a bid to save the villagers while still keeping his identity secret, he skillfully kills them, making everything seem coincidental and out of sheer luck. This does not deceive the detective constable, played by Takeshi Kaneshiro, who deduces that Donnie Yen is not quite the simple villager he makes himself out to be...

The fighting scenes of the film are awesome (kudos to Donnie Yen again for being i/c of action screenplay) with the team behind the soundtrack being a huge boost to adding impact to the movie as it proceed. However the ultimate scriptwriter, God, peppers in His teachings in more precious nuggets.

The story emphasises on repentence, as the lead character wishes to turn his back from his cruel and murderous past. The detective constable however is not convinced by his sincerity. This is too is attributed to a dark past of himself, having been too merciful to a young convict in the past, thus giving the killer another chance to commit an even greater crime. Thus, the detective constable is disillusioned by the concept of mercy and repentance, always insisting on the governance of justice. Below is a conversation between the two, when the constable was grilling the lead on his past, illustrating their conflict.

Lead: Actually everything is interlinked and through fate. If I hadn't passed by the village 10 years ago and spotted my wife, I wouldn't have settled down here and married her. If I hadn't settled down here and married here, I wouldn't have taken up the job of being a papermaker. If I hadn't taken up the job of being a papermaker, I wouldn't happen to be in the store that day during the attack. If I hadn't been in the store that day, I wouldn't have run into those two men. If I hadn't run into those two men, they wouldn't have died. If they hadn't died, you wouldn't have come here to investigate me. All of us are equally responsible for everything in the world that happens.
Constable: Are you meaning to say that all of us are equally responsible for the crimes committed by murderers?

Lead: I wasn't mentioning about the context of murderers committing murder...

Another character in the movie, the lead's mother, also poses doubts to the concept of repentence and re-birth. She, under the lead's father (also clan master)'s orders, heads the first expendition to the village, committing mayhem and murder, in a bid to force the lead to showcase his swordfighting to save the village, and eventually make his compromise and return to the clan. At the final moment when the lead tries to stop her from falling into the rapids after a rigorous fight with her (one of the best kungfu moments in the film), she looks up at him and says "Who are you deceiving? You are still Tang Long. (The lead's original name)", before plunging into the depths.

Thankfully, the lead is saved from the depths of eternal sin and condemnation as eventually all these doubts and half-truths are reconciled back to God's teaching. What happens eventually can be really a literal translation of God's teachings... The lead undergoes death of sorts (with the grudging help of the constable's medical knowldge to put him in semi-coma state but to reawake him again later) to trick the second expedition, literally severs himself from him dreadful past (similar to what was in the previous movie "The Beaver" which I last reviewed). Most importantly during the final showdown between the lead and his father cum clan master, it is not through his own strength and ability in which the clan master is eventually defeated. In fact it is really through an act of God. The lead having slightly exhausted and distracted his father, manages to allow the constable an opportunity to use acupunture to attack his father's critical defense nerve points, rendering it vulnerable. Even then, it is a bolt of lightning from the heavy rain which strikes his father dead through that acupunture point, as his and the constable by then have been very badly injured, collapsed in a corner. From this way, it is a three-tier effort through which the villian is finally defeated.

Similarly, the three-tier relationship is also present in us Christians. This is namely God (represented by the lightning bolt), the Holy Spirit (the lead himself), and Jesus (the constable). Yes, sadly the constable eventually dies after this final battle but at his death moment, he himself is finally reconciled with the fact that repentence and re-birth does exist. Kind of a perfect fit of sorts in my view, as the concepts of judgement, repentence and re-birth all fall into place seamlessly.

During the night before the final battle between the lead and his father, this is the conversation between the lead and the constable. I think we Christians can take heed and keep it as a gentle reminder in our hearts...
Lead: Didn't I tell you not to come back?
Constable: Why didn't you murder me that day when you were leading me out of the village?
Lead: You promised to let me off.
Constable: Come on, did you think I would really let you off?
Lead: I trust you.

No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.
John 3:3 (NIV)

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 Peter 1:23 (NIV)

But God raised him from the dead.

Acts 13:30 (NIV)

If your hand or foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed and crippled, than to have two hands or two feets but to be thrown into eternal fire.

Matthew 18:8, Mark 9:46 (NIV)

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!
2 Corinthians 5:17

At the end of the film, the lead settles down to the peaceful and tranquil life he so much wishes, taking on the passed away constable's tasks of moonlighting TCM. Now that his past is reconciled, his wife is finally at ease with telling him to return home in time for dinner daily. Likewise, when we are God's new creation, we are assured that we will be able to return for reunion with God in the home that we call Heaven. Amen!