Eunice Sng – Kallos

Review: Soul

Eunice Sng — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 07:55:00 +0000

WARNING: This article contains spoilers.

I’ve been a fan of Pixar for as long as I can remember. Yet, my years of experience (and packs of tissues) did nothing to prepare me for the sucker punch of emotions Soul served out in this beautifully animated feature film.

The movie spotlights Joe, a disillusioned middle-school band teacher who unexpectedly loses his life. Joe, now a newly departed soul, winds up on a travellator headed straight into a blazing ball of light known as the Great Beyond. Terrified and unwilling to leave life on earth just as things were looking up, he runs away and ends up stumbling into the Great Before, where souls are prepped for life on earth. There, he meets an equally disgruntled soul named 22, who seems to resist being born just as much as he dreads being dead.

Soul good: Small actions, big impact
Joe isn’t willing to die because he thinks he hasn’t accomplished anything worthwhile. In a moment of sad realisation, he states, “My life was meaningless,” echoing Ecclesiastes 2:17 — “All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”

Stuck in what he sees as a dead-end job, he has bigger dreams of being a famous jazz musician, which he believes will give him the happiness he desires. Little does he realise that he was making a greater impact on people around him as a teacher than he ever could playing the piano on a big stage!

That’s one of the central messages of the movie — that even those who are doing seemingly mundane and underappreciated tasks can have an outsized impact. It took nearly losing his life to realise that chasing his dream career wouldn’t bring him lasting happiness; if anything, it just amplified the emptiness he had been trying to fill. Joe learns that what brings true meaning to life isn’t success or fame, but the deep relationships you build and the way you use your gifts to benefit others, not just yourself.

Soul questionable: The Great Before and the Great Beyond
While many religions embrace the concept of a holding area for souls before their physical body is created, the Bible emphasises that God creates humans as physical beings (Gen 2:7; Ps 139:13–16). The movie puts an emphasis on the autonomy of the soul separate from God or other higher powers, or even the connection to one’s physical body (22 could enter Joe’s body and Joe’s soul could enter a cat)! Soul also erases the traditional notion of heaven and hell, and takes away the gravity of how one’s actions on earth can affect where they go in the Great Beyond.

That said, the fictional explanations about life before and after death shouldn’t prevent you from taking in the fullness of Soul’s message — that each day is a gift and life is a blessing. True contentment comes only in living life to the fullest but with the understanding that God is the one who gave us life and all its possibilities. Ecclesiastes 3:12–13 summarises it perfectly — “I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil — this is the gift of God.”

The Plight of Foreign Domestic Workers

Eunice Sng — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 03:39:00 +0000

STATISTICS

APPROXIMATELY
400,000
FDWS IN HONG KONG,
ROUGHLY 5% OF THE
POPULATION

PAID MINIMUM
HK$4630 PER
MONTH (SGD800)

Imagine living and working within the confines of the same four walls, far from the comforts of home. To make matters worse, your ‘bosses’ are the housemates from hell. How does one navigate that — and is there help? EUNICE SNG shines a light on the plight of foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong.

Like many before her, Wanda* (name changed for her protection) left home in hopes of greener pastures abroad, hoping to provide enough for her family back home. However, it was not to be. Like many foreign domestic workers (FDWs), Wanda faced abuse at the hands of her employers. She was physically and verbally abused by her employers and their children. Not only did she have to endure an unsafe work environment, she had no rest days and had her mobile phone confiscated from her. When she was running a fever after being bitten by the family dog, she was even told to pay for her own medical expenses.

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
Unfortunately, Wanda’s case is far from unique. A 2014 survey of 3000 FDWs revealed that 58% experienced verbal abuse, 18% experienced physical abuse, and 6% experienced sexual abuse (Mission for Migrant Workers). Due to a law that prohibits FDWs from working while allegations of abuse are being investigated (which can take months or years), many of these cases often go unreported. The global pandemic has only made things worse, as it is even tougher for FDWs to get out of the house and get help due to the ever watchful eye of employers and the lack of work-life balance. Social-distancing also prevents FDWs from taking a breather with their friends on their off-days, and in Hong Kong’s infamously small flats, many do not even have their own rooms in their employer’s homes.

Even if they do try seeking help with local migrant worker agencies, they are often rejected because of how complex the case might be. This is when non-profit organisations like Justice Without Borders step in, because they are able to deal with complicated, cross-border, legal process, such as mediating between employers and the domestic workers when disputes arise that cannot be resolved. Most FDWs find it difficult to remain in Hong Kong to seek justice, and unfortunately, the legal aid systems cannot extend to these workers when they return to their home countries, since they lack the networks and knowledge to access justice there. As such, many workers end up giving up their rights altogether. At the same time, bad actors in the host countries understand that they can act with impunity, escaping responsibility once they send a worker home.

WHY IS THE SITUATION SO BAD?
Many acknowledge that one of the reasons abuse of FDWs is so rife is the “live-in requirement” that FDWs must reside in their employer’s home, resulting in long working hours and very little privacy if they do not have their own rooms. Global Voices reports that this makes FDWs more vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse, with few avenues to seek help when it happens.

In the event that an FDW decides that she has had enough and wants to find a new employer, she faces further complications. Immigration laws stipulate that FDWs need to leave Hong Kong if they do not find a new employer within two weeks, which they know is difficult and unlikely. As these domestic helpers are often made to pay exorbitant agent fees in order to get a job in Hong Kong, leaving and re-entering the country (and paying the fees again) is typically not an option. As a result, many FDWs simply have to endure the abuse they face in hopes of making it through their contract so that they can pay off their agent fees and earn enough money to send home.

WHAT NOW?

THINK:
– Is Hong Kong the only place where this happens? How can we fight for the rights of FDWs in our own country?

PRAY:
– That Hong Kong’s lawmakers will value the dignity of FDWs and pass laws that give them the rights they deserve.
– That those equipped with relevant skillsets (e.g. lawyers, doctors) will be moved to volunteer to help FDWs who have been abused.

ACT:
– Donate to organisations like Justice Without Borders or PathFinders, who serve the migrant community in Hong Kong by offering them legal and social support.

Fashion With A Purpose

Eunice Sng — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 01:11:00 +0000

Interested in sustainable or slow fashion? Perhaps you are a budding creative yourself hoping to start a business in Singapore. EUNICE SNG speaks to some of Singapore’s fashion up-and-comers to find out just what it takes to lead a purpose-driven business.

PARADIGM SHIFT LABEL BY AUDRIS ADABELLA QUEK
In the first year of operating Paradigm Shift, we were blessed with a growing audience and brand momentum. Thus, I was eager to launch new products. I was about to send out an email to our manufacturer requesting to begin production on the next product when the Lord convicted me. He asked me, “Who designed that dress and who decided to go ahead with production?”. I was dumbstruck and could not answer Him because I knew it was all me and God was not even given a chance to have a say in it.

He later gave me instructions to only sell the long black dress for a whole year. I was in shock! How would that sustain us? Then He convicted me, “What paradigms would you be shifting if you ran your business like everybody else?” At that point, I really did not understand, but I obeyed. One year later, I see the fruits of obeying Him above all logic and business sense. Because we only sold one item for that whole year, the brand can now speak with credibility and authority when it comes to talking about slow fashion and production because we walked the talk! It was an almost unheard of “business model” but hey, if the King says, it goes.

A challenge of identifying ourselves as a sustainable brand is that it automatically limits the kind of materials we can use. But this is always exciting because it forces me to work with what we have and to make the impossible possible, with God, of course! Sometimes it looks like charting new territories where others have yet to, and exploring new methods and ways of running a sustainable fashion business.

I wish to see Singapore’s fashion industry change from domination to empowerment, a shift from brand’s self-obsession to customer-centricness. Instead of brands influencing the masses in the fashion decisions that they themselves dictate, my hope is for brands to make decisions based on the customer’s needs. What good does fashion have if it is only about self-elevation? I believe in fashion for good; empowerment throughout its supply chain from start to end.

WILL & WELL BY ELISA LIM
The name Will & Well came out of the Lord speaking to me about the idea I had to design inclusive and functional fashion for all. He said, “If you have the will to do it, then I will make it well for you.” With that comforting understanding, I found the meaning for the brand as well. In the same vein, for our clients (who can range from stroke patients, to people with disabilities, to the able-bodied), if they have the will to live a good life, regardless of their age or physical situation, then we will make it well for them too through inclusive clothing so that it is easier for them to get dressed.

Everyone wants to look good, so the clothing needs to be attractive as well, not just functional. An example of that is our Unisex Drawstring Front-Zip Pants! We designed it as a customised piece for a lady who had a hip surgery, but I wear it too, and an 80-year-old granny does too! I think it’s really fun like that, when a garment is being worn by different age groups. People wear it all for the same reason, for the ease of us, for the comfort, for its classic look. Our Front-Zip Midi Dress is another piece that was birthed out of a conversation that I had with an elderly lady who lives alone. She was telling me that she couldn’t wear dresses anymore because she didn’t have anyone to zip the dress up for her and she can’t stretch that way. It just goes to show that regardless of age and physical ailments, fashion can still accommodate and beautify each customer.

Every single morning, I spend some time reflecting on what I have — everything is a gift from Him and He can take it away at any time. It can be business opportunities, family, church or friends. It’s a good reminder that nothing belongs to me and it helps me not to cling on to anything in this world too tightly — it’s an approach for living that allows us to make decisions based on His will and His values and His principles. Then, He will make whatever He placed in our hands well for us to fulfil!

ELIZABETH LITTLE BY EILEEN TAY
My brand is called Elizabeth Little — named after my daughter because she was really tiny compared to her brother. She is definitely my inspiration! Children have endless ideas and they are not restricted by the same things adults are, so it’s really great fun to create with her! For example, she’s turning six and is currently into fairy princesses — thus, all the sleeves I do now have to have sleeves that puff up!

I started a slow fashion brand because I wanted to leave a legacy for my children that encourages them to value quality over quantity. Slowness has a negative connotation, but to me, ‘slowness’ also means taking time to just wonder, admire, and appreciate what other people make with their hands! I suppose it also ties in with biblical values because it’s really about being contented with what we have, and also about patience.

As a Christian in the creative industry, social media is extremely powerful. There are so many negative influences these days, thus, as a Christian, it is important to post positive messages. With every social media post, I take time to think and pray that it will be uplifting. We also try to incorporate Christian messaging on our packaging. With every dress order that we get, we send out a postcard with penned down Bible verses for every customer — Philippians 4:4 is my favourite. Sometimes, we get feedback that the recipients were encouraged — even if they weren’t Christian — because everybody loves being blessed!

When the COVID situation happened back in March, three of my stockists closed down and I had a whole office filled with extremely expensive Liberty fabric shipped in from Italy. Thus, I was stuck with a super high inventory cost and there was no way we could utilise the fabric because all the fairs I was supposed to participate in got cancelled. Thankfully my mentor prompted me to start making masks and when I posted pictures of the samples, the feedback was phenomenal. However, I didn’t want to profit from something like this during this period, especially because masks had become an essential item. God gave me the idea of donating one mask for every mask sold, and that was what I did! To date, I think we have donated about 15,000 masks!

Review: Folklore by Taylor Swift

Eunice Sng — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 03:40:00 +0000

Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift pivots in style from her last two albums and settles in for a melancholic documentation of relationships and life in her latest record, Folklore. In the midst of a pandemic, its self-reflective charm paints a narrative escape just like that of an oasis in the desert. Folklore takes us through Swift’s musings, rants, and belief systems, a far cry from the controversial Reputation but nowhere near the energising pop anthems on Lover. Swift goes back to her singer-songwriter roots in this one, hardened from past battles, yet open and vulnerable.

Swift draws inspiration from her vault of past experiences, coupled with historic figures, events, and even movies, whilst encircling her tried and tested theme of love and its failings. It all begins with “the 1”, a post-breakup meditation where Swift fantasises about what could have been and looks back on a past relationship with rose-tinted glasses. This track’s easy-listening vibe carries on throughout the album, but the themes are anything but light.

In “mad woman”, Taylor does her take on the phrase “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”. Here, she laments the injustice of how a toxic ex-boyfriend gets away with everything, being able to seamlessly move on to his next “victim”, while she is left carrying the grudges and hurts of their broken relationship. She points to the notion that not all anger is unfounded, playing out scenes of retaliation but biding her time and choosing inaction while simultaneously seething inside.

The whole album soon fades to an end with the beautifully haunting melodies on “hoax”, its repetitive melody resembling that of a music box that gets wound up only to play out the same expected outcome. It’s a sad tale of a protagonist who longs for love from a partner even though she knows the love isn’t true: “Your faithless love’s the only hoax I believe in / Don’t want no other shade of blue but you / No other sadness in the world would do.”

Though the album is catchy and fun to listen to, I would proceed with a guarded heart. Swift is a master of making us feel wistful about young love (even if we’ve never even been through it!), and while this album’s ethereal quality may make you long for the experience, clearly not all the love she describes is healthy.

Don’t get me wrong — I love the album. It’s a beautiful tribute to the Taylor I knew and loved. It also shows her growth as a person and as a musician. Yet, it’s easy to be drawn into romanticising, or longing, for a broken relationship at the strum of a tune.

I think that’s why the Bible warns us to “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Prov 4:23). It would be much more fulfilling to let the wisdom of God guide our thinking and feeling instead of songs and songwriters, no matter how much we admire them.

Trigger Warning: Fighting Off Porn During Covid-19

Eunice Sng — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 16:19:00 +0000

Jessica Harris, author, blogger, international speaker, and creator of beggarsdaughter.com, is passionate about helping young women find hope and freedom in their sexual struggles. Her book Beggar’s Daughter: From the Rags of Pornography to the Riches of Grace chronicles the struggles of her years-long journey with pornography and her road to healing.

Kallos: During this pandemic, most students would find themselves stuck at home with a lot of time on their hands and may desire to watch porn. Do you have any advice on finding healthy distractions from emotional triggers such as boredom and loneliness?

Jessica: This pandemic has created some unique circumstances for so many of us. It is a “perfect storm” for women who struggle because it forces us to contend with so many triggers like anxiety, fear, uncertainty and even hopelessness while also upsetting our routines, cutting us off from community and limiting the activities we can do. However, it’s very important that we start with the truth of 1 Corinthians 10:13. It says that God is faithful and He will not only keep us from being tempted beyond our ability, but that He will also provide a way to escape.

I think, too often, we consider distractions the same thing as escaping temptation and they aren’t. So, lack of distraction and boredom are not excuses for giving in to temptation.

We don’t find freedom in distracting ourselves from sin; we find freedom in fleeing sin and finding healing. I would encourage women to press in to those hurting places and really do some hard work with God in this time. If loneliness is a trigger, for instance, press in to ‘Why?’ Are there lies there that you are believing in? Then, what is God’s truth? As you work on letting God heal those places, work on fighting the trigger as well. Reach out to friends. Find a way to stay connected. Give yourself something to look forward to every day. See this as a Sabbath, in a way. A chance to have your soul refreshed.

WE DON'T FIND FREEDOM IN DISTRACTING OURSELVES FROM SIN; WE FIND FREEDOM IN FLEEING SIN AND FINDING HEALING.

Kallos: With the prevalence of social media, one doesn’t necessarily need to go to porn sites to have lustful thoughts. What are some safe markers that one can put in place?

Jessica: Pornography is everywhere, but it’s important to understand that we can have lustful thoughts even without seeing any kind of content. Plenty of women struggle with making up their own fantasy in their minds. That being said, it’s important that we are always aware of the temptations that are out there. You always want to ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” Is it to stay connected? Is it because I’m bored? Is it a social media addiction? Is it to encourage other people? Is it to satisfy my own lust? Each woman knows what her unique triggers are. So while having your own boundaries on social media is important, the more important work is learning to take our thoughts captive and to guard our hearts and minds.

Kallos: What do you think about the mindset, “My body, my rights. I’ll wear what I want!” Could dressing in a revealing manner stumble another struggling with a porn addiction?

Jessica: When it comes to modesty, we need to operate from a position of freedom, not fear. Christian modesty messages can make us feel ashamed of our bodies or afraid of our sexuality. Both of those are God-given, good, and not something to be ashamed of. As women, we need to ask ourselves, “What message is this sending?” not “Will this cause someone else to stumble?” The reason is people can “stumble” over very different parts of the body — some people find ears, necks, and feet attractive.

That’s why our motive for modesty has to come from our own desire to honour God with the message we communicate through our dress. If you put on a piece of clothing that you intend to draw sexual attention toward your body, that reveals something about your heart. The first time I met my husband, I was dressed very modestly, but he still found me sexually attractive. The responsibility for controlling his mind was completely his. I didn’t dress in anything provocative or in any way to draw that sort of attention to myself. However, if he had told me, “Jessica, this particular shirt you wear really stirs up sexual feelings” even if the shirt was completely modest, I would have made sure not to wear it around him.

Kallos: How can someone heal from the guilt and shame of failing once again — feeling hopeless, especially in this time of lockdown where it seems to be a never-ending cycle?

Jessica: Healing can only come from an encounter with Jesus. The issue is when we are hopeless, struggling with guilt and shame, many of us turn away from God. We assume He’s mad at us, frustrated with us, and sick and tired of us “messing up”. But that’s not the message of the gospel. The devil would love us to believe that we’re hopeless and that God is disgusted with us, but that’s not truth. We have to stand on the fact that God’s mercies are new every morning and we have to take responsibility for our part in the fight against sin. I would certainly encourage women to start by studying Romans 6–8. I call these “the freedom chapters” and they are rich with truth about grace and freedom from shame and condemnation.

THE DEVIL WOULD LOVE US TO BELIEVE THAT WE’RE HOPELESS AND THAT GOD IS DISGUSTED WITH US, BUT THAT’S NOT TRUTH.

Kallos: For people who are struggling with both internal and external triggers, and have the mindset, “Just muscle through it, ignore it, and it will go away” — do you have any advice or words of encouragement for them?

Jessica: I think it’s important that we look at this struggle through the mindset of healing. We so often frame pornography and lust as “a bad thing we do that we just need to stop” and we neglect the damage it is causing in our lives and the damage in our lives that may be drawing us into this. Too often when we muscle through it and ignore it, what we’re really doing is numbing ourselves and adopting a calloused coping strategy. We close ourselves off and refuse to address the issue and may even start lashing out at people who want to help us, even God. That’s not the life He longs for us to have. He wants us to heal, and we can’t do that by ignoring pain.

It’s also important to realise a sex drive is different from a trigger. Desiring sex is not wrong and is not the same as lust. A desire for sex is healthy and needs to be acknowledged and entrusted to God. We need to recognise that sex itself is good and God’s idea. That mindset can also help us as we battle temptation because we can ask ourselves, “Is this the way God wanted it?” And if the answer is no, then we need to deal with that accordingly.

Want to know more?

Find more resources from Jessica Harris at beggarsdaughter.com, or read her book, Beggar’s Daughter.

How To Resist Peer Pressure

Eunice Sng — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 04:00:00 +0000

For the longest time, I’ve struggled with being your average, typical, people-pleaser. While I may have developed my own mind as I grew older, the struggle has never gotten any easier. While I knew what I had to do, there was always a clenching at the pit of my stomach when facing confrontations of any sort. My fear of offending was great — to the extent of compromising my beliefs.

When I think about peer pressure, I think about loyalty, and how I have never wanted to be that person who exposes the cheat in a test, or the snitch who tells on the friends who made off from the canteen with unpaid candy. Isn’t peer pressure about wanting to fit in with your mates? For me, it went beyond just how I behaved, but also included my desire to accept ideologies propagated through the media or to dress in a certain way or to watch trending shows in order to be accepted by my friends. These were pressures I felt as a kid that did not dissipate as I grew older. In fact, these pressures starting morphing into a different but more insidious variant.

TAKING THE EASY WAY OUT

Nowadays, in order to be deemed socially acceptable, it’s not just about ‘doing as they do’, but ‘thinking as they think’ — we are required to support the same ideologies and social causes as everyone else in order to fit in, and if you don’t, beware. People get upset when you don’t think as they do. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, I was caught in an awkward situation with a group of friends because they were debating amongst themselves about a human rights topic and absolutely refused to agree to disagree.

In Josh McDowell’s The Beauty of Intolerance: Setting a Generation Free to Know Truth and Love, the author gave the example of a young dating couple wanting to sleep in the same room when visiting the girl’s parents. Both sides became unhappy — the parents were uncomfortable because it was a blatant disregard for their rules under their own roof, while the daughter felt that because they did not agree with her decision-making, they were rejecting not just her beliefs, but her as a person.

In moments like these, I often think to myself: wouldn’t it be easier to just ride out as many disagreements as possible with a couple of non-committal nods and grunts? I’m tempted to take the easy way out and keep silent, give a harmless little nod here and there, and hope that no one notices my lack of enthusiastic support.

REWARDED FOR COMPROMISE

While it might be terrifying to speak up, there are times where perhaps that “harmless little nod” and silence in the face of disagreement could be all you need for compromise to overflow into the other areas of your life and start gnawing at your core beliefs, shaking the very foundations of what you thought you knew. In the instance of dating, you could be averse to the idea of dating a non-believer at first. Yet after awhile, you realise how difficult it is to find a good Christian guy, and you start getting impatient. What’s more, your friends have started dating non-Christians (and they seem so happy!). Then, you start rationalising that at times, non-Christian guys are even more pleasant and moral than the Christian guys you do know. And so, it starts small — it always does. A little leeway, some casual flirting, and soon enough you’re in a committed relationship that you can’t get out of but is built on completely different values that might even belittle your own.

DOING AS ‘THEY’ DO AND THINKING AS ‘THEY’ DO GETS YOU REWARDS, WHILE BEING COUNTER-CULTURAL OFTEN COMES WITH A COST.

John Piper in his article ‘A Call to Teenagers to Be Free’ writes that the reason most teenagers stay slaves of the expectations of their peers and of the big industries that market popular fashion, music, technology, and entertainment, is because this slavery is so pleasant — and so consistently rewarded — that the possibility of doing otherwise rarely enters our minds. For example, cyberbullies get easily rewarded by ‘likes’ on their hateful comments on social media. They don’t see what they’ve done as bullying because it’s purely online, but in reality, there’s someone on the receiving end getting hurt. Teens also notice that provocative photos on social media get more ‘likes’ than more modest ones, and therefore they may feel like the only way to be cheered on and supported is to show a lot of skin. Doing as ‘they’ do and thinking as ‘they’ do gets you rewards, and being counter-cultural often comes with a cost.

FINDING YOUR FOOTING

Perhaps the reason why we succumb so easily to peer pressure is because we have sought security in shaky sand instead of the solid rock that is Christ. In his book Mentoring Paradigms: Reflections on Mentoring, Leadership, and Discipleship, Edmund Chan shares the secret to having true inner security. That is, having “Nothing to prove, nothing to lose, and nothing to hide”.

Having nothing to prove means that you have a deep security in God. You have a humility that reminds you that you really needn’t try desperately hard to prove yourself worthy because you indeed are loved and created for a greater purpose.

Having nothing to lose means to be absolutely surrendered to God and to ask Him to be Lord of your life. It is tough, as it requires you to give in to God and His purposes, not yours. In the above scenario about not finding a godly Christian man, it might mean having to wait without knowing when or if you will find one, but accepting that either way, God has the best for your life regardless of what that means.

Having nothing to hide means to walk in true repentance and not soothing our conscience by hiding or rationalising our sins.

In Jeremiah 17:9, the weeping prophet reminds us that “the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Self-deception is subtle and difficult to catch. Thus, above all, we are to guard our hearts, “for everything you do flows from it” (Prov 4:23).

The good news is that our God is gracious! He did not leave us without guidance on how to guard our hearts. Through His Word and by His Holy Spirit, He gives us wisdom freely. And when we inevitably stumble, He catches us and encourages us to do better. We are never truly alone in ideological or physical situations of peer pressure and compromise!