people have prejudices because of their upbringing, surrounding environment, personal philosophy and personal experiences (all not mutually exclusive, obviously). i have my own, some i hope to be correct / right (as opposed to righteous) and some, unfortunately, not.
prejudices can bring out the worst in you. it doesn’t matter if you are a trailer hick from buttfuck, MS or an highly-educated professor in a world-reknowned academic institution. you’ve seen it. it happens everyday. if not in the form of daily conversations or e-mails, you see it in your daily dealings in life. but that’s life, one might say, just get on with it.
but should one put up with it? no one could right every wrong in the world, but when you see the kind of shit that comes from the mouths of people who you’d think should know better, you simply put your arms up in despair. why should i bother, i think to myself sometimes.
it’s the i-know-best mentality that pisses me off. obviously a mentality seen amongst the holier-than-thou types. why always assume the worst in people when the good in them are overlooked and dismissed. and to talk about the negative aspect of a situation these people don’t profess to really know about (looking up wikipedia or harian metro online doesn’t count). and when you don’t really know about these things, what makes you think you know what is best in that situation? does it make you sleep better at night thinking you’ve (tried to) cured one of society’s supposed ills, preaching to the cattle-like masses?
being opinionated does not equate to having an opinion.
My theory is that it boils down to insecurity and the need for self-validation. If you speak to the quietly pious (as opposed to the holier-than-thous) you can see how they try to see good in the bad, even in heathens like me. That’s because, in my most humble of opinions, they are secure in their faith, and lack a need to validate their existence every other second.
One day, one day lah kan..
somebody made your blood go upstairs ke uncle?
kudo o kudo,
was the piano in your room? was she a hottie then?
dining hall. yes she was (dia kawan my brother).
If I may have an opinion on this…
During my down-and-out years, there was this one friend of mine who came all the way from London to talk to me and he brought me along to this congregation of the faithful of sorts. We sat in a circle during one of the discussions and talked about faith and related matters. Me being my suicidal self at that point, looked each of them in the eye, and said, ‘How do all of you know what you’re doing is right? What would you say if I told you that all of you are walking down the sick, wrong path?’
I was waiting for hell from them, grinning like a madman because at that point in time, I would’ve taken anyone on. I was pissing on their faith in their own garden, so to speak – me against about 10 people. And to my surprise, everyone smiled and some even gave out a little laugh. They told me that faith cannot be forced. That what they were trying to do was give people like me an alternative route out besides the alcohol, drugs and cheap women. That they respect my view of them, but asked me to give them a chance.
And for the first time in a long time, I felt ashamed. The realisation came from within. No, I didn’t suddenly become pious, but it made me realise that there is always an alternative way to preach and being holier-than-thou is not a pre-requisite (in fact, it’s destructive) to help others find the way.
Then, when talking to them, it turned out that most of them were drug addicts, womanisers, gamblers, alcoholics, gangsters before. And that’s why they don’t have that holier-than-thou stance. Probably because they were where I was before. And they know the struggle. And they genuinely want me to win that struggle.
Just a story to share.
Thanks for sharing that, The Neon. Touched something within me.
And Kudo, yeah… all of us face it every day. It is true that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. (Pardon me if not making sense but drowsy on flu meds. :P)
err… i don’t get the piano bit. what hottie? which friend of mine? hannah?
ya. go to firdaus’ blog to find out.