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Thursday, March 13, 2008*

Amazing Grace. Many times we hear this hymn, at funerals and ceremonies and such, but how often do people stop to think about the history behind it, as well as its original intended meaning?

Today during LCM day (which is library club member’s day for you. I AM proud of being a librarian, and I did not join because of my mother, but rather as a form of service to the school and its community so to all of you out there who laugh at me… I’m not a nerd just cause I’m a librarian :/), we were shown the movie “amazing grace”, and it really left a mark on me.

In the movie, the main character (based on an actual historical figure), William Wilberforce, faced a dilemma – whether to pursue religion, or politics. As one of his comrades aptly said, “we strongly suggest you do both.”

The problem he was trying to address at that time was the slave trade. (Though this may not seem much of problem in society now, there are still cases of human trafficking happening in present time, so in actual fact, slavery is far from banished.) But his mind was thinking about other things at that time as well… Like God and the praises his beautiful voice allows him to sing of Him. About the little marvels of the world… spider webs and stuff. But he had already established himself as a marvelous politician, and his best friend, William Pitt, who aspired to become prime minister, was pressurizing him to enter the world of politics once more, despite his many failed attempts to pass the bill abolishing the slave trade. His servant advised him: “planning to live a life of solitude? The saddest thing is not when no one knows a man, but when a man does not know himself”. Or something along those lines.

I think that… technically by serving man, we are also serving God, as we are the “sons” of God, it’s just whether or not we choose to accept him as our father. Another apt quote in the movie – if you make the world better in one way, is it not making the world better in every way?

The song was written by John Newton, a mentor to William Wilberforce, a man who used to be the captain of a slave ship, who repented and converted to Christianity, and wrote this hymn as a sort of confession.
“I live in this church together with 20,000 other souls. I wish I remembered all their names. They had beautiful African names, every single one of them, and yet we called them by grunts. We were apes, they were human”.

Quotable quotes:

John Newton: Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly. I'm a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.

William Wilberforce: No matter how loud you shout, you will not drown out the voice of the people!
William Wilberforce: I want you to remember that smell... remember the Madagascar... remember, God made men equal.

John Newton: [reciting his song] "I once was blind but now I see". Didn't I write that?
William Wilberforce: Yes, you did.
John Newton: Now at last it's true. (a reference to his blindness)

Pitt the Younger: As your Prime Minister, I urge you caution
William Wilberforce: And as my friend?
Pitt the Younger: To hell with caution.

William Wilberforce: No one of our age has ever taken power.
Pitt the Younger: Which is why we're too young to realize certain things are impossible. Which is why we will do them anyway.

John Newton: God sometimes does His work with gentle drizzle, not storms. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Oloudaqh Equiano: Your life is a thread. It breaks, or it doesn't break.

Richard the Butler: You found God, sir?
William Wilberforce: I think He found me.

William Wilberforce: In my heart I want spider's webs!

Richard the Butler: Great changes are easier than small ones. Sir Francis Bacon. I don’t just dust yer books, sir.

William Wilberforce: You're dressing very simply these days.
John Newton: I'm a simple man.

William Wilberforce: I had heard your sight was fading.
John Newton: Well, now it's faded altogether. I never do things by halves. God decided I'd seen enough.

John Newton: [through tears] I'm weeping. I couldn't weep till I wrote this. (his confession)

William Wilberforce: It's only painful to talk about because we haven't changed anything.

William Wilberforce: You wake me up to give me medicine to help me sleep?

Damn I really need to put what I want to say down at the heat of the moment cos I FORGOT what I wanted to say! AARGH!

Anyway it’s a really good movie so.. WATCH IT. And William Wilberforce looks like Mr. Aguss hahaha.

Ah yes, I remember. I realize that to do great things, to enlargen one’s sphere of influence, one must first establish him/herself as capable. People I’ve seen who have brought about great change are often high in power, but never forgetting to return to the community, the very thing that gave them their position in the first place.

Lord Charles Fox: When people speak of great men, they think of men like Napoleon - men of violence. Rarely do they think of peaceful men. But contrast the reception they will receive when they return home from their battles. Napoleon will arrive in pomp and in power, a man who's achieved the very summit of earthly ambition. And yet his dreams will be haunted by the oppressions of war. William Wilberforce, however, will return to his family, lay his head on his pillow and remember: the slave trade is no more.

"Amazing Grace"

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev’d;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ’d!

Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promis’d good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call’d me here below,
Will be forever mine.

John Newton, Olney Hymns (London: W. Oliver, 1779)

To me, amazing grace refers to the Grace of God, and the hymn refers to how John had seen the light.

This also brings me to a point on humans, our lives and our value.
In Cambodia, a developing country, the handicapped are given little care, for the government deems them useless to the society. The mentality is that if you don’t produce any returns for the country, why should we provide for you?
Whereas in societies like the Aborigines in Australia, their culture cares for everyone, every life. Their belief is that no one, no matter how disabled, how small, how immobile, gets left behind.

Is it not ironic how the compassion and values we see in such backward societies, can be totally absent in developing/developed countries?
Sometimes I think that those societies have more to teach us than for us to teach them.

-monochromatic-6:13 AM