My grandma and I talked about politics once. I told her how some people amuse themselves by saving other lives. I actually got that from Alanis Morissette’s song. It’s called “Underneath”. The video started off with her in this heart which was beating and she was all alone. Then, there was this other Alanis, a young funky punk chick who has posters of “Save the Earth” on her wall. And I think the heart that the other Alanis was in was dark at first. So, you would see this punk alanis going around sticking posters of all these humanitarian acts on walls. And then she comes back home and something happened. Then, she tore down all these posters and there was this HUGE mirror in front of her. She sees herself. Every poster torn down gives the other Alanis shades into her dark heart. The video ends with the Alanis in the heart with this guy, I think.
So, I told my grandma about how some people amuse themselves by saving others. When I was sad in Sydney, I actually gave some money to this gay boy I chat to in this gay chat room. It was 100 bucks. Bank transfer. Then, a year later, this gay boy came and slept over my place because he’s got no home. It turned out to be the same boy and his name was Josh. It so happened that both times, I was either broke or sad. When I didn’t have the money, I gave him a home. It was because I felt happy afterwards. But years passed and I noticed ONLY later, when it was a bit too late, that I wasn’t saving myself.
Grandmom told me that she read this book, where this man was about to go to war and his wife stopped him. He said ‘I want to save the country’. Mind you, he’s got two kids. So what his wife said, I never forget. “Before you save your country, can you ask yourself if you could actually even save us?”
Dumbfounded much?
After my presentation today, a guy came up to me and asked me to give pro bono voluntary English classes to his staffs at his NGO called NRC. I said yes immediately. Maybe it was my ego boost doing the talking but I didn’t regret it because it was not only English that he wanted me to share. He said he wanted me to show them how to deal with foreigners. How to be brave. How to stand up for their opinions. Now, this reminds me of conversations I always have with taxi drivers. I would usually say “You know what this country needs? It needs some decency in the mindset”. Not the leaders. Not the people. In fact, it’s everyone. I told him how a positive gesture can result from a balanced negotiation. I actually got it from friends telling me about break ups. How many people realize that they are actually letting go of bad people in their lives and meeting new ones after every break ups with their significant others? Mostly none apart from some smartasses.
The fact is I will not be saving my country but I would at least be initiating an attempt to make it better. Maybe, if I show these ten people how to negotiate, how to have positive minds, how to not get drawn out by rejections and how to bravely make the opposing team concur gently and subtly by smart calculations, I can be confident enough to say these ten would spread this. And maybe finally our country will be in peace. People trying to walk in each other’s shoes and trying to understand the consequences of the surroundings, respect the mentality of others and most importantly get what they want, as well as others.
On the other hand, I looked at myself in the mirror. A deportee who’s waiting for permanent residency from that country with an online boyfriend. Hmm….. this makes me wonder if I have actually saved myself despite my happy mood. Am I really ready to save something else before saving myself?
So, I told my grandma about how some people amuse themselves by saving others. When I was sad in Sydney, I actually gave some money to this gay boy I chat to in this gay chat room. It was 100 bucks. Bank transfer. Then, a year later, this gay boy came and slept over my place because he’s got no home. It turned out to be the same boy and his name was Josh. It so happened that both times, I was either broke or sad. When I didn’t have the money, I gave him a home. It was because I felt happy afterwards. But years passed and I noticed ONLY later, when it was a bit too late, that I wasn’t saving myself.
Grandmom told me that she read this book, where this man was about to go to war and his wife stopped him. He said ‘I want to save the country’. Mind you, he’s got two kids. So what his wife said, I never forget. “Before you save your country, can you ask yourself if you could actually even save us?”
Dumbfounded much?
After my presentation today, a guy came up to me and asked me to give pro bono voluntary English classes to his staffs at his NGO called NRC. I said yes immediately. Maybe it was my ego boost doing the talking but I didn’t regret it because it was not only English that he wanted me to share. He said he wanted me to show them how to deal with foreigners. How to be brave. How to stand up for their opinions. Now, this reminds me of conversations I always have with taxi drivers. I would usually say “You know what this country needs? It needs some decency in the mindset”. Not the leaders. Not the people. In fact, it’s everyone. I told him how a positive gesture can result from a balanced negotiation. I actually got it from friends telling me about break ups. How many people realize that they are actually letting go of bad people in their lives and meeting new ones after every break ups with their significant others? Mostly none apart from some smartasses.
The fact is I will not be saving my country but I would at least be initiating an attempt to make it better. Maybe, if I show these ten people how to negotiate, how to have positive minds, how to not get drawn out by rejections and how to bravely make the opposing team concur gently and subtly by smart calculations, I can be confident enough to say these ten would spread this. And maybe finally our country will be in peace. People trying to walk in each other’s shoes and trying to understand the consequences of the surroundings, respect the mentality of others and most importantly get what they want, as well as others.
On the other hand, I looked at myself in the mirror. A deportee who’s waiting for permanent residency from that country with an online boyfriend. Hmm….. this makes me wonder if I have actually saved myself despite my happy mood. Am I really ready to save something else before saving myself?
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