Pokemon Go!

So I've read with interest the spate of news surrounding the mobile game Pokemon Go - from the rant that led to an unceremonious sacking in Singapore, to the hordes of people converging on New York City's Central Park when a "rare" Pokemon spawned there, to the woman who actually found a dead body while searching for Pokemon!

For those of us who don't know what Pokemon Go is, it's an "augmented reality" mobile app game, where the players walk around in real life, trying to find Pokemon (sort of like digital pets) which the gamemakers have placed in real locations.  So for example, if a Pokemon spawned in the middle of the Padang, you'd follow the map in the app, walk to the middle of Padang, and actually "see" the Pokemon superimposed on the camera view screen of the Padang on your phone.  Make sense?

At some point, I imagine someone will be able to superimpose not just a Pokemon on our view of the real world, but actually layer an entirely different world on it!  Oh wait, that's the Matrix :)

King Solomon once wrote, on the topic of advancement:

I saw all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king's successor.  There was no end to all the people who were before them.  But those who came later were not pleased with the successor.  This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes 4:15-17

Solomon was talking about striving to take over the king, and actually succeeding - reaching the pinnacle of success.  Thousands of people were his subjects.  Lots of power and influence.  But Solomon realised that this had no permanence.  No one enjoys success forever - how meaningless!

I've seen this myself.  One day you are the teacher's pet, whom the boss appreciates and promotes.  The next, your boss is gone, and your favour is lost.  One day you're the young rising star, the next you're in middle age, and the boss is wondering how to justify paying you to do the job someone younger could do.  One day you have the corner office, the next you're out.

There are two ways to respond to this.  The first is - in the words of Dory - just keep swimming!  In the workplace, there is no treading water, no standing still.  I have to keep getting better, I have to keep advancing.  Otherwise I sink.  There's nothing wrong with this - I am called to excellence in the places God puts me, to give glory to Him.

But the second is this.  There is a point where I have to understand that this endless search for advancement is really just Pokemon Go.  I'll end up walking right over a cliff to pursue the illusory Pokemon.  I have to look up from my mobile phone and the daily struggle in the office.  I have to see the people around me, and God who loves them, and realise that's the real world.

I remember, when I started work at my first law firm, I loved it.  I came in early every morning, and stayed late every night, and didn't see the sun for weeks on end.  But it was thrilling.  It was fun.  The partner in charge loved me.  But when I switched careers (I had already committed to the public service - in those days, the public service had a fixed "window" of time for new joiners. The law firm had been very helpful in allowing me to work for them in the interim, knowing I would likely leave when the window opened), I had a chance to look up.  And it was like waking from a dream.  I realised all my priorities had gone haywire.  Instead of God, family, friends and work, it was the other way round.  And this taught me a lesson - I had only been living in augmented reality.

So the next time it happened to me - loads of exciting work, favour with the bosses, travel, promotions, constant late nights... I remembered.  This is becoming Pokemon Go.  I took a deep breath.  I looked up from the game.  I saw my family and cell members who I had less and less time for.  I asked God for direction.  Then I changed.

Doesn't mean I don't work hard now.  Just last week I actually worked for 40+ hours straight in the office.  Sometimes this happens.  I still enjoy my work tremendously.  That's great.  I still strive to do my best and to do well.  Of course - to do otherwise would be dishonest.  But I need to keep my priorities clear.  I need to fix my eyes on God, and the things that last, the things that really matter.  Not on the temporary - the prestige, the office, the advancement.

So I need to practise holding things lightly.  I've quote Corrie Ten Boom before on this - "Hold everything in your hands lightly.  Otherwise it hurts when God has to pry your fingers open".  God doesn't deliberately want to hurt us of course.  But He understands better than us - let go of Pokemon Go - you're stepping over a cliff!