Old sighted man or a young blind one?

Was happily mugging at BB Mac late nite. Time check: Past 10! Ok ok last part already. Hang on there...

* Interrupted *
"Hi"
* I looked up *
"You studying Mathematics?"
* I removed my mp3 earphones *

This guy (I later learnt, a 59-yr-old) spoke with a Japanese accent. Looked kinda rugged. At first, I really didn't know what he wanted.

"You a Christian? Which church do you go to?" (seeing my cross)
"Er, Faith Community Baptist Church.. A charismatic church."
"You go charismatic church? No good..." * Followed by a whole host of reasons *
* I gave some quizzical yet dubious nods. All the while asking the Holy Spirit, what should I say, how should I respond *

It turned out that the guy is actually a Japanese writer, pursuing his passion in writing. He faced persecution in Japan because of his faith in God. Having received a grant from his local church, he first flew to US and has since travelled widely in the US, Europe, trying to make a living out of publishing his books. Alas, times are really hard. No publisher is willing to print his books. He decided to try his luck in Singapore.

I was intrigued by his story - yet at the same time suspicious. Wah, this man trying to pian4 qian2 is it? But as I further conversed with him, I find that he is a very traditional Christian who holds the Truth of God adamantly. Having seen much ugliness in the society and deeply shakened by the world's consumerism, materialism etc, he spoke with righteous anger about the behaviours of the people today.

As an English writer, he spoke with eloquence and forthrightness:

"You dress well. Dark colour. Covered. Not like some people wearing low-cut jeans, revealing their backs - what are they trying to show? .. we should dress humbly, OLD-FASHIONED it's ok.."

* I think I gave an incredulous look. What? You say I old-fashioned? haha *

"Politicians (he is saying in general) are like monkeys. Saying what the people want to hear so as to get their BANANAS.."

* At this, I just burst out laughing loh. What a pun! *

"I want to get settled down. Currently, I'm using one hand to beat the air. I need another hand to make sound. (clap) .. so given a choice of an OLD SIGHTED man and a YOUNG BLIND one, who would you choose?"

* haha hence the title of this posting *

At the end of about 1 hr of talking with him, I bought a copy of his book ($25, for a photocopied and binded book). I felt a certain sense of compassion for this guy. I've been to Japan on mission trip and I've heard and seen Japanese Christians facing tremendous persecution by their fellowman. Really not easy to be living in a land with less than 3% Christians. And I'm quite interested to read about his thoughts, the struggles he has seen as well as tasted - all depicted in the characters in the story - AN AMERICAN BREAKFAST.

Hope to read the book after my exam (13th Apr).