Be a Brand of Yourself

I came back from Tertiary Students Camp around 2 weeks ago, but I was too lazy to blog about it earlier. But the urge to blog it came to me now, as this camp really gave me a new set of knowledge and another experience to remember. I really loved this camp, made me have this sense of belonging as though i have finally came home after wandering so far. And the fellowship with church brothers and sisters is like the 'one family' kind of feeling. You know what i mean if u're in my church and experienced this before. In this camp there's a particular session shared by Timothy, talking about branded goods and us. It somehow made me awake and came to realize that all this while i've just been so ignorant...

Talking about branded goods, do we buy them just because of the name and ranking they have in the society? It seems that owning such branded goods makes us feel a higher class than other ordinary people who only owns simply goods with just normal standards. There are some, in fact many who wouldn't go out of the house without wearing something brandedly. They just want people to associate them with the branded goods that they own. For instance, there's a person who only goes out wearing or using Nike goods, and other people who gets along with him knows him as a "Nike guy". So under such circumstances when he is already known to be associated with Nike all the time, all the more he wouldn't leave the house unless he has Nike logos all over him. As we come to think and ponder, isn't such people living a very pitiful life? They have to be bounded by the brand "Nike" wherever they go, and if they go out without having that Nike brand with them, they wouldn't be themselves anymore! Why must a human fall into such pathetic state as to be a slave of a brand? We initially are humans created out of the image of God, and we're listed top in the priorities of God, so we're even more important than the angels! And we as high class human beings are leading a life under the bondage of branded goods which are simply man-made goods. Isn't that sad?


Perhaps some of us would think that we buy branded goods because of its quality, alrite fine. It could be better to buy something with higher quality which can last longer instead of something of lower quality which spoils easily and needs replacement from time to time. However, how do we explain the pirated branded goods which are selling so fast in the night markets? Why do people actually buy them? It is merely because people just want to look rich and of higher status when they are using branded goods even if it's pirated since it's not easy to differentiate between an original and pirated good!

One important lesson i have learned from this camp, that is to live a life of ourselves to God, to be a brand which God hath made us. Each and everyone of us itself is already a brand, and certainly very branded indeed, so it is only degrading if we were to transform ourselves into the worldly branded stuff. Okay, really thanks to Timothy and the subang group for their sharing. Benefited greatly. At the same time looking forward to the next Tertiary Students Camp to be held next year. Emmanuel.