* this is a mild jab at Christians and Christianity, so if you are gonna be offended – oh well. *

So mom and I were watching the TV news regarding the trapped miners. They showed footage of the townspeople praying in a church and proclaimations of “the whole town is praying for them” and it’s a “miracle” that two are still alive. This is the conversation that followed between me and my mom (we are both Buddhists):

Me: This is stupid. God should not have let the earth quaked, and the rocks to collapse into the mine. If he wanted to, he could have let the earth quake happened at night!
Mom: God does not work like that.
Me: Maybe they should have prayed that nothing like this should have ever happened in the first place.
Mom: Well God does not work like that. Besides, they probably think that God is testing them. That’s why they think it’s a miracle that the two of them survived?
Me: Yeah well what about the one that died?
Mom: Yeah lah. Like I said God does not work like that.
Me: I don’t like a God to test me. If I believe in you, I believe in you lah! Test me for fuck!?
Mom: Shhh. *proceeds to put joss stick at the 观音 (guan-yin) altar and prays for my soul*

Ok she didn’t really do the last bit but she did give me a stern look.