Leaving the Indifference
This was the question I asked to my friend; why are you leaving? He replied, "I can't anymore stand the indifference of good men in this place."
Last night, I was browsing some movies in YouTube. I clicked on a movie entitled, "The Boondock Saints." I haven't seen the whole movie but I had the chance to view the first part of the movie, I heard this phrase; "indifference of good men," so I decided to write this article because I remember my friend whom I first heard those words.
He is a good man, if the barometer of good morality is the motive or intent of a will, indeed he is. That's how I knew him. My friend cares much the other people more than he cares his personal concerns. He does good things quietly though there were times that he cannot hide them, yet he doesn't seek recognition nor hungry for accolades. I believe that the desire for the feeling of importance and be appreciated is a human nature. It is a way to value one's self and a self-motivator. He told me that he likes it but doesn't want it. He simply hates appreciation.
I learned that he did a lot of services to other people. He made sacrifices and let to lose mundane opportunities. He has the best job among the others. A lofty position which is really hard to achieve but he simply let it go. He was telling me about another kind of gain but I couldn't simply understand what he was trying to say. Gain after those losses? Good opportunities come and they will never come back the same as they were. Then why he let them go? Well, that I don't understand. Indeed, he is an altruist.
He is man who takes pride in the achievement of others and who finds sanctuary in others' holiness. That was noble but it was crazy. I visited him one time; I knew before he moved to Incheon City where his work was located he was staying in the capital for two years and taking the subway for two hours every day to work. I was the one who advised him to move in an apartment near to his work but he refuses at first because he couldn't leave his brethren in the capital despite of greater expenses. When he moved to the new apartment, he simply told me there were indifferences he has to flee from the capital so he decided to move.
He moved into a not so humble apartment. I remember the apartment was near to the Bucheon station. I asked him how long he has been staying there. He said, "for three months." But he stayed in another apartment at the other side of the station for two months after he moved from the capital. He then transferred to his new apartment because it was better than the previous one. He was paying for his new apartment of quite expensive amount but he finely affords it because he earns a lot from his teaching job. He was earning at least eighty thousand pesos a month. He told me, "If I have just saved some amount of money from my job and if I have just moved earlier, I might have more than a million pesos in my Philippine bank account." Of course you do, I replied. He simply shrugged off. "I don't! I have to help my brethren." Out of my naughty interest, I inquisitively asked a lot of questions about what he was doing. He was simply reserved in his answers avoiding words of commendation from me because he knows that every time I hear his good deeds I am lavish in my praise and hearty in my approbation. He simply appreciates my words but he doesn't want to hear them.
The day I visited him he was preparing a remittance paper to Africa. He was helping some African people whom he never met. He said the payoff was the fulfillment that he helped people who are in need, that he brought smiles to the sorrowful and that eases at least a little pain of their sufferings. And that was bliss to him. I saw how he carefully writes information in the remittance paper and his love he used to wrap the package he sent; it was simply wonderful and amazing. He taught me a secret how to do a divine thing; he said, "it must be done with a happy heart. It is not because it's merely the right thing to do neither the dictate of the moral law, but rather you're happy to do the right thing no matter how it takes." He said; that was the absolute and pure good will of a person. He told me that in every iota of each act must be done in charity. I have not seen tenderness like that to a friend. He dearly loves his brethren and his brother Botchoy whom he takes proud of and grateful in his stories.
On the second time I visited him. I sensed a melancholy around him. He said, he was thinking of leaving the country where he spent the most beautiful days of his life. I asked him the reason, he simply said, "I can't stand the indifference of good men. This bothers me much which my spirit can't be calm by doing nothing and watching things the way they are." He was disturbed by the inequities of people whom he believed as good men. So he wanted to flee because he can't do anything to correct them as if they are more powerful in position than him. I know his words are allegories. The thing I know about the "indifference of good men" is the sins of omission which the people have to fear most. It is when the good men stand by and do nothing to stop the ones who are actively doing what is wrong. Though they do not commission the wrongdoing but they are behaving in an evil way just as much the ones physically doing the wrong thing. Thus, reminds me the saying, "All is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing."
From then on, I have never seen my friend again. He left the country for more than a year now. He opted for peace of mind than enjoying the mundane pleasures in a rich country. He is a person who speaks in abstract in most of our conversations but I wish to understand him more because I am always learning from him. I miss you bro Jonas!
Last night, I was browsing some movies in YouTube. I clicked on a movie entitled, "The Boondock Saints." I haven't seen the whole movie but I had the chance to view the first part of the movie, I heard this phrase; "indifference of good men," so I decided to write this article because I remember my friend whom I first heard those words.
He is a good man, if the barometer of good morality is the motive or intent of a will, indeed he is. That's how I knew him. My friend cares much the other people more than he cares his personal concerns. He does good things quietly though there were times that he cannot hide them, yet he doesn't seek recognition nor hungry for accolades. I believe that the desire for the feeling of importance and be appreciated is a human nature. It is a way to value one's self and a self-motivator. He told me that he likes it but doesn't want it. He simply hates appreciation.
I learned that he did a lot of services to other people. He made sacrifices and let to lose mundane opportunities. He has the best job among the others. A lofty position which is really hard to achieve but he simply let it go. He was telling me about another kind of gain but I couldn't simply understand what he was trying to say. Gain after those losses? Good opportunities come and they will never come back the same as they were. Then why he let them go? Well, that I don't understand. Indeed, he is an altruist.
He is man who takes pride in the achievement of others and who finds sanctuary in others' holiness. That was noble but it was crazy. I visited him one time; I knew before he moved to Incheon City where his work was located he was staying in the capital for two years and taking the subway for two hours every day to work. I was the one who advised him to move in an apartment near to his work but he refuses at first because he couldn't leave his brethren in the capital despite of greater expenses. When he moved to the new apartment, he simply told me there were indifferences he has to flee from the capital so he decided to move.
He moved into a not so humble apartment. I remember the apartment was near to the Bucheon station. I asked him how long he has been staying there. He said, "for three months." But he stayed in another apartment at the other side of the station for two months after he moved from the capital. He then transferred to his new apartment because it was better than the previous one. He was paying for his new apartment of quite expensive amount but he finely affords it because he earns a lot from his teaching job. He was earning at least eighty thousand pesos a month. He told me, "If I have just saved some amount of money from my job and if I have just moved earlier, I might have more than a million pesos in my Philippine bank account." Of course you do, I replied. He simply shrugged off. "I don't! I have to help my brethren." Out of my naughty interest, I inquisitively asked a lot of questions about what he was doing. He was simply reserved in his answers avoiding words of commendation from me because he knows that every time I hear his good deeds I am lavish in my praise and hearty in my approbation. He simply appreciates my words but he doesn't want to hear them.
The day I visited him he was preparing a remittance paper to Africa. He was helping some African people whom he never met. He said the payoff was the fulfillment that he helped people who are in need, that he brought smiles to the sorrowful and that eases at least a little pain of their sufferings. And that was bliss to him. I saw how he carefully writes information in the remittance paper and his love he used to wrap the package he sent; it was simply wonderful and amazing. He taught me a secret how to do a divine thing; he said, "it must be done with a happy heart. It is not because it's merely the right thing to do neither the dictate of the moral law, but rather you're happy to do the right thing no matter how it takes." He said; that was the absolute and pure good will of a person. He told me that in every iota of each act must be done in charity. I have not seen tenderness like that to a friend. He dearly loves his brethren and his brother Botchoy whom he takes proud of and grateful in his stories.
On the second time I visited him. I sensed a melancholy around him. He said, he was thinking of leaving the country where he spent the most beautiful days of his life. I asked him the reason, he simply said, "I can't stand the indifference of good men. This bothers me much which my spirit can't be calm by doing nothing and watching things the way they are." He was disturbed by the inequities of people whom he believed as good men. So he wanted to flee because he can't do anything to correct them as if they are more powerful in position than him. I know his words are allegories. The thing I know about the "indifference of good men" is the sins of omission which the people have to fear most. It is when the good men stand by and do nothing to stop the ones who are actively doing what is wrong. Though they do not commission the wrongdoing but they are behaving in an evil way just as much the ones physically doing the wrong thing. Thus, reminds me the saying, "All is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing."
From then on, I have never seen my friend again. He left the country for more than a year now. He opted for peace of mind than enjoying the mundane pleasures in a rich country. He is a person who speaks in abstract in most of our conversations but I wish to understand him more because I am always learning from him. I miss you bro Jonas!
posted by nurr25 at
12:26 AM
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