Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Mass Hysteria

Many years ago when I was still serving the army, we would often be given nights-off. That's when most of us would go out for a meal at the neighbourhood, shop for some food at the grocery store, or just catch a movie at the theatre. Sometimes I would opt to stay in the bunk to unwind (read: too broke), have a couple of cigarettes, and just watch whatever's on the telly.

So there was this evening where I was really bored. I had practically nothing to do. I wanted to head out, but I have no idea where I should go. My bunk mate approached me and asked whether I'd like to attend this 'prayer session' held at the Indoor Stadium.

At that point in time, I had absolutely no idea what that was, except that it was related to, well, religion. I figured that it's probably some prayers and reading of the holy book, and being the curious kay-po, I decided to follow my friend and a few other bunk mates to the stadium.

I had never expected to see so many people flooding the Indoor Stadium - and until today I still think that this is the strangest thing I have ever done. It has been close to 10 years and I cannot exactly recall the exact chain of events, but I remembered that there was loud music - very loud music. I was made to hold and raise my neighbour's hand and yell at the top of my voice. People were jumping (supposedly with joy) and thumping their feet. We were made to repeat the same phrase over and over again, and I was shocked to see one of my mates suddenly lapse into a trance (I only found out much later that he was speaking in tongues). People were crying because they felt a supreme presence in the Indoor Stadium.

I looked at one of my friends, Jayson, who was a non-believer, and gave him the 'did-you-feel-it' look. He gave me a 'don't-ask-me-I-didn't-feel-anything' look. Wait, I have to feel something. Some higher form of intelligence must be in here - who else would make so many people scream and cry? So in order not to look out-of-place, I began to convince myself that I must have felt something too. So while I'm at it, I threw myself into a trance, mouthing gibberish while hoping I can convince others that I believe what they want me to believe in. It was embarrassing because my trance wasn't very well done; it's not unlike the random prancing me and my friends do in clubs while we're high on alcohol.

And when they asked the 'newbies' to proceed to the middle of the stadium to receive their Supreme Being, I froze. No way I'm doing that trance dance again in front of 8,000 people.

But then there's always time for some miracles - people in wheelchairs who claimed they were sick were 'cured' by hard shove on the forehead, while the name of their Supreme Being was repeated again and again. Wow, I thought, they're giving the hospitals a run for their money.

In the end? Well, I gave up. I stopped pretending I felt anything other than that damn ringing in my ears from all the loud music. Jayson and I left the place shell-shocked and stumbled to the nearest bus-stop. Just when I was about to get on the bus, I recognized a girl friend of mine. She's one of those girls I've met at a club when I was still trying to convince myself that I was straight.

We haven't seen each other for a long time, but the first thing she asked was "so have you been saved?". How odd. I thought she'd ask "how are you?" but it seems that 'being saved' took a higher priority. And not that I have anything to be saved from.

The next day, everyone returned to normal. My mate who went into a trance looked no different from any other day; but I have, from that day, swore off attending any of these 'prayer sessions'. I tried to convince myself that this concerted effort of screaming, banging, thumping and crying must be the result of one, if not several, beings that bear a higher intelligence. But until today I could find no clue except to conclude that this is a case of mass hysteria.