An Uncommon Sense

Just prior to stepping into this CC, I had, in my mind, planned several things to write about. But soon as I stepped in, whoosh!, everthing disapeared like smoke and I am now left wondering what to write. But write, I must, for my soul is screaming like a bald eagle. Only, the eagle does that when he's soaring high while I'm on an all-week low. Maybe I should just join the 'Screaming Eagles' of 101st Airborne. Afterall, any fool would be screaming their lungs out when they're forced to jump out of a plane several thousand feet in the air! Then again, as much as I admire anyone who's able to do that, no thank you; a steeplejack even with a parachute I am not. At my age now, I need the feel of solid ground under my feet. Now, this brings us to...

Hey Annonymous and Rhumbaaddict! Glad to see you both dropped in and thank you for the comments. I must admit though, when I first read them, I did not know how to reply and almost withdrew myself. To be honest, I very seldom ever received kind words. Verbal abuses however, are aplenty as Totally Depleted would testify. And, Annonymous, don't mind him, he's just trying to help me along here. By the way, do people write as I did in this para on their blog?

Had a lunch meeting with several people the other day somewhere near KLCC. One of them, a young non-practicing medical doctor, presented a vision he has. What the vision and the business associated with it, I am unable to disclose here out of respect and privacy for the doctor. However, what he mentioned afterwards is what I would like to share.

"The world is changing too rapidly" the Dr said.
"Though this may pretty much be a cliche, not many realise the effect of the statement" he added.

Now, what happened next may not be savoury to some, so please be warned.

With the hot sun and a heavy lunch settling in nicely in my tummy, I was prepared to be serenaded to a nice afternoon nap by his talk. This however did not come true when he asked me how I relieve myself in the toilet. Seem a pretty stupid question, I thought. However I replied I do it like anyone else, sitting on the bowl. Er, that is the norm, is it not? Apparently no.

Sitting on the bowl, it seems, is only the norm when you are trained to do so and within the confines of the environment that avails itself. A man raised in the modern environment of an urban area may grow up thinking that such is the norm and should only therefore be common sense. But he forget or could not conciously remember that he was trained for such environment. The situation would be different were he brought up in a rural area, say 20 years ago.

Then, many rural communities were still using the 'squat'. A boy from the rural area sent for secondary schooling in an urban area would face this question: How on Earth do you use the sitting bowl? As though to strengthen his story, he admits to having had to face this dilema when he was 13 and came to a decision which made perfect sense to him: he squatted on the sitting bowl!

Ok, I was begining to wonder, what's his point?

A country, in reaching for development, should teach its people what the development is and how to use them. People - the mass, he means - are largely an ignorant lot. They need to and want to be taught how to use even the simplest of items at times. To emphasise on this he mentioned the humble mobile phone.

Mobile Service providers have been running countless promotion especially on the television, trying to teach and encourage the public on ways which they can use their mobile phone even if it is just for the short-messaging (sms). The fact that there is a financial gain is not the matter here. There matter is, people began to understand that one can do more than just talk on their mobile phone.

Hmm...sounds like a real advertisement already :)

Likewise with simple trust, love, courtesy and respect. All religion and beliefs share a common ground on these. Yet youth of today seem to misplace their trust, love the wrong thing and have no courtesy nor respect. If a child is left to grow in the street environment of today, he would grow up thinking that profanities and other undesirable elements are a common thing; an uncommon thing becomes common when the society allow it.

Phew! Heavy stuff, I thought to myself. Where are we heading to?

A man in part of the community. The community part of the society. It is the society that makes the nation. Therefore it is the duty of the man to help steer his community, the community its society, and the society their country to the desired direction.

When you encounter an unruly behaviour, do the uncommon thing: befriend the poor soul. If he gives you the rebuff, well, that would be a common thing, wouldn't it? If we do it to the point of it being a common thing, chances are the rebuffs would slowly become uncommon.

Let's change, bring back the society to what is commonly good for all and not for individuals only.

Yeah, sure...along with a common black eye! But, he does have a point. For too long I've heard my friends lament about the youths of today. Day in day out the media report moral decay and what not. Yet, who or what have had the galls of, not telling these very youths of their so called misdeed, but showing them how to do what is morally right? In a world where common sense is limited to a particular environment, the Dr's uncommon sense does relate. Problem is, where do we begin?

Here and now!