Sida's writings

I'm on holidays now, horray!

I've had quotable quotes from the Surgery and Psychiatry rotations, but GP was mostly quite sane. I had a great time at the practice I was posted to; that's probably why I don't really have any snide comments to make. Actually, the practice probably deserves a separate blog post. That's for another day; right now I can't be bothered thinking about medicine-related things.

My brother all of a sudden showed interest in coming to church. I'm not actually all that sure why. Maybe he's older now and wants to meet more people; or maybe he might figure it's time to grow spiritually as well as mentally and physically. Already 11 years old and weighing in at 40-odd kilos, he has done plenty of growth in the latter two departments.

So last Sunday, while the church was reciting the Apostle's Creed, he suddenly said to me: "Who's Pontius Pilate?". So, I decided to teach my brother all about the bible. They say, in medicine, that if you can explain difficult medical concepts to a child, then you understand the concept well enough yourself. Well, I'm going to try teach my brother elementary theology... which is an amusing thought, because I'm not even sure if I understand all of it myself. But oh well, we'll see. Watch this space.

I was going to start with Genesis, go through the patriachs, then to Exodus, etc... but I suddenly thought, since it's nearing Christmas, we should learn about the Christmas story. A nice easy topic to get started with.

So on Sunday night my brother and I went through the first two chapters of Matthew and the first two chapters of Luke. We read one paragraph each, stopping every now and then so I could explain to him what words like "Christ", "Messiah", "Immanuel" meant. Then I told him about the social and political background of those times, and why everyone was waiting for a messiah. It took about an hour and a half, and I had his captive attention all this time. Quite impressive, quite exciting, and quite scary. It's like God giving me a blank book and I get to fill it out. I just pray I do it well... not only the teaching part of it, but also just setting a good example in everyday life.

Skip forward to Monday afternoon when he came home from school. I was half-reclining in a very uncomfortable position yet unable to move, because I was beating the boss stage of Space Invaders on my brother's Nintendo DS. The giant alien-thingy had turned from pure green to pewter, so I knew I was getting somewhere.

My brother came in and announced he won the backstroke race in his swimming carnival at school... and also mumbled something about his uniform, or something like that. (I lost track of what he was saying when the bastard evil space alien took my first life.)

Then he said, in a half embarrassed, half awkward tone: "Sida, I wanted to say something to you..."

"Ahuh." I said. He was probably going to ask me to buy him something that he knows I will say no to. The space alien somehow grew a shield and was shooting me with lasers.

"... I wanted to thank you..." he said, awkwardly.

"... yes...?" I said. I had figured out a way to penetrate the shield, but at the cost of one more life. My thumb was starting to feel a bit sore. Why do they make buttons so small on these things?

"... I wanted to thank you for teaching me the bible." He finished.

I was lost for words for a while, partly because I was surprised, partly because I wasn't sure what I should say now, and partly because my space ship had acquired a laser and the alient had turned red. I wondered whether I should make a big deal about what he said, or just take it lightly. I also wondered if the red meant the thing was about to die soon.

That decision was made for me when the space alien took another life. The bastard! I only had one more left!

"That's ok, honey, it's my pleasure, really. We'll do it again tonight." I said. "Die, you stupid thing! Arrgh!"

The alien took my last life. I shifted in a more comfortable position as the words "Game Over" flashed onto the screen. I peered at my brother, but he had finished all he was going to say on that topic. "I'm hot. Can I go for a swim before starting on my homework?" was the last thing he said before he turned away.

So much for setting a good example in everyday life. Oh well. I guess you can't make a big deal about some things.