Conversations: Building Bridges between Christians & Muslims
|
The concluding Conversations of 2008 had left a record-breaking footprint in the history of Conversations held for the Year with a turn out of 33 participants. Held at the Imagination Room at the National Library Board on 5 November from 7.30pm to 10.00pm, the fire-chat session also had one of the best guest speakers. Ms See Guat Kwee is no household name in interfaith matters. The 48-year old with strong accolades in the industry (thanks to her previous distinguished posting of Director of Corporate Communications in Economic Development Board), See Guat accomplished equally sterling foothold in interfaith resolutions and peacemaking activities. However, she remains very humble and prefers to approach interfaith matters from her personal experience at Palestine rather than speaking it from the missionary aspect. Main reason: her deep respect for other religions.
See Guat shared with all present that prior to her trip to Palestine, she went there for the sake of learning more of the Holy Land, nothing more. However the 2-week study was soon extended to six weeks. She realized one thing all the while there: there had been two strong yet opposing views if the Holy Land from the Jews and Muslims. More importantly, See Guat, unlike the woman she had been all along, saw the metamorphosis in her. She saw the beauty of the Jews and the Muslims. They are as beautiful as her fellow Christians.
At Palestine, See Guat and her friend had met with a Jewish
Soon after her trip, See Guat embarked on her first peacemaking activity. She trooped in Palestinians to Singapore so that they could model after Singapore's peacemaking efforts toward its multi religious fraternities. She extended peacemaking activities on herself even. She waited on Friday mosque go-ers in a bid to raise funds for Malay drug rehabilitation centres. Such has been her drive toward her personal mission.
See Guat also shared her goals in life after her Palestine visit:
- To listen to multiple sides of an issue
- To make space for others
- To feel their pain
- To understand how context influences perception.
The energetic interfaith enthusiast also shared the next important aspect of her interfaith foothold through another institution, Hartford Seminary. Hartford Seminary's influence reaches far beyond the walls of churches, mosques and synagogues. Its work strengthens the moral character of society. By developing the leadership capacities of religious leaders and the wider public, the Seminary directly affects the cities, towns and rural areas where these leaders live. Armed with renewed vigor and dedication to their work, Hartford Seminary students and program participants return to their communities with a new wholeness, a new sense of the possibility of a humane world, and the practical skills to bring about that vision.
See Guat was of the opinion that all could learn from each other through the prevalent problems. It is from problems, that people could bind together but the tolerance needs to be cultivated. See Guat recaptured the lessons she picked up from her interfaith journey:
- Layers of identity
- Personal experience and history shaped us
- Different stages of maturity
- Personal change in the heart and mind
- Inner transformation - need to come from the heart
It was purely a Conversations of its own filled with deep thoughts and rendering of wise sayings and poems from the guest speaker herself. See Guat admitted to spending large quantity of time to self reflection. A notable gesture she extended to the Palestinians was a letter she and her friend had crafted in the form of an apology to all who had suffered from past Christians. With that, See Guat ended her presentation with a poem she had penned while studying at Hartford Seminary:
When a Square meets a Circle
by Guat Kwee See, March 2005.
I came across a circle, so beautiful it was
All colors and stripes in harmonious song.
The circle keeps its nature, belonging to its own
Enclosed in its tightness in a beauty of its own.
The square can't enter the circle, no matter how it tries
It listens to their song but cannot sing along.
There is warmth and love in the circle, but the square can only see it afar
The welcome is spoken, yet the square remains alone.
How can a square enter the circle?
How can it breach the impenetrable wall?
It sits outside the circle, alone, rejected, forlorn.
Only what lies in the circle can bring the square in
Only if the circle can see and unchain what locks it in
It lies within the links to open up its gate
Only the circle can bring the square in.
All of us belong to circles which make harmonious song
In each circle lies its own beauty; in each lies its song.
But when squares come upon us, they look like they don't belong
Yet each square was created to be part of the song.