Quotation Is Good, But That's Not You

Honestly, this topic has been in my mind for so long. During my primary up to secondary years, during the debate competitions, public speaking, group presentations, and then college life, micro teaching and like, another 88,000 occasions that I care not to mention. Seriously.

Quotations, quotations and quotations. Generally speaking, the habit of using quotations from other individuals, especially the famous ones, is not wrong. From one point of view, it's actually good. Because it proves that you have been reading. It proves that you are aware of the surroundings. It proves that you are well-prepared for discussing or elaborating whatever topic you have in your hands. In short, I can say that quoting words from anybody you look up to is not even bad at all!

But one thing that I'm worried about, and sometimes pissed off with, is when people tend to rely too much on quotations. It's like in their very own brain, there's nothing more but quotations memorized from their entire lives! At this moment, all that I can say is, what the hell is wrong with you people? Come on, there must be other reasons why God gives you a brain other than memorizing words you heard. Can I name one? It's called 'think'.

Look, not all situations that involve you must be debated, or argued, or discussed seriously, that need you to study and learn about. It's not always necessary for you to search the Wikipedia and 'copy' every single sentence. Because most of the time, the thing that really matters is how you feel. I'm not saying that you should speak based on your feelings, ONLY, and ignore all the facts. That would be wrong. It's just that, don't make everything too formal. Sometimes it's okay to say something stupid, share your feelings, without any literature review, and just go with it. Because at least you know that those words you just said came straight from your heart. Original and registered.

I want to suggest to you that whenever you hear a person keeps and keeps and keeps on quoting words from people every time he or she talks and fights in order to prove who's right, you ask this, "That's MJ (let's say MJ's words were quoted here by that person), but what about you? I want YOUR words." I really want to see how they will respond. Can they produce their own ideas? And this is exactly my point, fellow readers.

If you rely too much on quotations, one day you're going to have problems expressing your own ideas. You're going to struggle, and there'll be no quotations available to help you. Be careful, my friend. Don't let your habit destroy you own creativity. You don't realize it, but sometimes you produce something even better than those people you quoted. But you don't see it because you're too busy looking up to them. Just stop doing that for a while and start believing in yourself.

Those Little Things That Don't Belong

I got a few questions I want to ask you guys, and hopefully you can answer 'Yes' at least for one of them. So here we go. How often in a day you spend your time watching people you don't know? How often in a day you spend your time listening to conversations from people you don't know? How often in a day you spend your time reading things you don't want to read? How often in a day you spend you time asking yourself questions you don't want to answer? Oh yeah, obviously you can't answer 'Yes' to these questions, right? I was just messing with you. I happened to write that sentence spontaneously and was too lazy to delete it. Heh, please forgive me. But seriously, how often?

Normally, we're bound to do things we want to do. We don't want to give a care about things unrelated to us. But when the time comes, whether we realize it or not, we have to get involved in situations where we don't belong. And trust me, this kind of situations gives us a lot more reasons to learn and improve.

There was a day at the KTM station where everybody was bored and had to wait for the delayed train patiently. The rain had just stopped. Then, there was this guy who worked there and he diligently swept the rain water off the floor. I was there and realized that while he was sweeping the floor, everybody stared at his activity and was kind of spaced out. EVERYBODY. That included me. But of course, my eyes were more attracted by those staring eyes instead of the floor-sweeping man.

The sound of the activity echoed throughout the station. The way that man did his job seemed to have petrified every soul there and he became the centre of attention. My question at that moment was, "What are their minds thinking while watching that man sweeping?". Well, I'm sure they thought about a lot of things, and that was the beauty of it!

Every little thought that comes across our minds decides the next move we're going to take. It's like a decision. We can say that the thought is spontaneous and doesn't count a penny, but nevertheless, it's our thought. If we don't agree with it, we'll just have to think of a new one. Isn't that us? So, during that moment of 'gazeless' stare, those people including me, had come up with something to ponder which might as well lead to some events in the future. Small or big, that depends on each of us. But we did come up with something.

So my point here is very simple. Every little thing that we do or see everyday actually plays at least a small but significant, if not big and important, part of our lives. In fact, they provide a lot more options for us to consider since they aren't restricted to our wanting-for-something nature. It's simply because they are born out of nowhere and we don't even plan for them. They start from those little things that don't belong.

Promises

In a typical Malay living room where the mother was busy arranging the magazines on the table while the son was resting on the sofa and reading the newspaper. The radio was playing an old Malay song from the 60’s. She seemed to be enjoying the melody as a young woman entered the room with a luggage a few seconds later. The woman turned off the radio.

AISYA
Mom, I’m gonna have to go to Sarawak for a week. Got a few things to settle there. Can you feed Jesse in the meantime? I left him in my house.

MOTHER
Sure.

AISYA
Thanks! Give him his food three times; morning, afternoon and evening, and please make sure that he’s out of the house early in the morning after he has eaten, and then put him back inside by noon for his lunch, and then he’s out again until evening. Make sure he’s inside the house at night, okay?

MOTHER
Okay.

AISYA
And please don’t ask Agus to do this. He’s too lazy. I don’t think he will do it exactly the way I want. He’ll just throw the food, and forget everything else.

AGUS
I can hear you, sis. (his eyes were still on the newspaper)

MOTHER
Okay.

AISYA
Thanks, mom! Bye.

Aisya left the house instantly. The mother turned on the radio again and then continued dealing with the magazines. Agus yawned, and then he put the newspaper on the table. He looked at his mother for a while, and immediately went into his room afterwards. At the same time, a man entered the house.

AMRI
Why do I always have to give him money?? Ask him to find a job, lah! He has finished his studies, right? (he sat down)

MOTHER
Yes.

AMRI
Then what is he waiting for? He should be working already! (checking his wallet) Here, 50 ringgit. This should at least last for a week. But I don’t know what he has been eating, it always lasted for only two or three days! Is he pregnant or what? Ask him to control himself! And get a job!

MOTHER
....... (taking the money)

AMRI
I just don’t know for how long he’s gonna waste his time and our money! What good in studying at university but then doing nothing?

MOTHER
Let him rest for a while...

AMRI
It has been more than one month already! How long is he gonna rest? A year? Such a waste of time! At least he can do something in the meantime! Part-time job or something. Make his own pocket money.

MOTHER
Hmm...

Amri stood up and was about to go out when Agus came out of his room. They exchanged some agitated expressions and then ignored each other.

AGUS
Why did he look so angry? Did he give you the money? Is it because of that?

MOTHER
Here.

AGUS
He gave 56 ringgit?

MOTHER
No. I add 6 ringgit. Try to save some.

AGUS
You tell me how.

Agus went out and left his mother alone. A minute later, another man walked into the house.

ADAM
What’s wrong with Agus, mom? I mean, what’s he gonna be? (he sat down and reached for the newspaper)

MOTHER
Give him time, lah...

ADAM
Until when?

MOTHER
Maybe he has something else to finish...

ADAM
What’s there to finish? He’s always in his room, sitting in front of his computer. What else could he be doing? Watching movies, listening to songs, and sleeping. Then when he wakes up, he asks for food, and money, and goes out.

MOTHER
He’s not always out...only once in a while.

ADAM
Yeah, but when he does, he will ask for money and act like he’s from a rich family! Just look at what he’s wearing, all those branded clothes! Don’t make me start talking about his food. KFC and McDonalds!

MOTHER
You too...

ADAM
Well I have a job. I make my own money. Last night I ate at Pizza Hut’s, and the day before I went to a buffet. I didn’t ask money from anyone else. I used my own money.

MOTHER
......

ADAM
Anyway, when he’s back, tell him to find a job!

Adam went out. The mother sat on the sofa and sighed. She looked up to the wall and wandered into the blank space. She finally fell asleep. About half an hour later, Agus came home and woke her up.

AGUS
Mom, here’s your food. Nasi briyani with some lauk. (putting it on the table)

MOTHER
Why do you always have to buy this? You should save the money or else your brother’s gonna get you.

AGUS
Have you eaten? (he sat down)

MOTHER
No.

AGUS
Did you make anything for you to eat?

MOTHER
Don’t have anything to cook.

AGUS
What, I should save the money and let you starve? I ate rojak just now, (burped) and you don’t eat anything? No, no, no...you get to eat, and I don’t care about what my brother’s gonna say.

MOTHER
Amri will get angry.

AGUS
I don’t care lah.

The phone rang. The mother went and picked it up. It was Aisya.

AISYA
Hello mom. Just reminding, don’t forget to give Jesse his lunch, okay?

MOTHER
Okay.

AISYA
Great! Thanks, mom! Bye.

AGUS
So...she always calls you three times a day every time she goes out of town, kan?

MOTHER
Yes.

AGUS
And she only asks about her cat, whether he has eaten or not, right?

MOTHER
Yes...

AGUS
(paused) Mom, can you wait for a while? I’m waiting for my term paper’s result, just to make sure everything’s fine. I promise I’ll start looking for a job right after that. I know I’ve been such a pain. I always trouble you. I always ask for this and that. But all those are gonna stop. I’ll give you money. I won’t count it. I’ll buy you food. And if I’m away for work, I’ll call you, and ask whether or not you have eaten. Just wait a little longer. Just wait. Please.

MOTHER
........

AGUS
........

MOTHER
How much did you pay for your rojak? (she opened up her nasi briyani)

AGUS
3 ringgit je.

MOTHER
This? With so many lauk?

AGUS
8 ringgit.

MOTHER
(she paused and smiled) Next time just buy me a rojak.

THE END

It's Always Okay Even When It's Not

I had a talk with a friend of mine just now. I told her that I needed some opinions or ideas for my blog, since my brain has been refusing to produce some for quite a time. It turned out that we happened to talk about our favourite words, and both struggled to produce one (and this only proved that thinking about what we love is always harder than about what we hate). Haha. But she finally told me that the word 'okay' is one of her favourites. That gave me some ideas to write about. So here we go.

To produce feelings such as love, hatred, excitement, laziness and whatever, you name it, is an easy task. Most of the times, it happens naturally. But to respond to these feelings isn't going to be easy. We need to think before we do it. If we suddenly feel something about anything or anybody, we'll think if it's actually true. If someone says to us "Hey I love you" or "Damn I hate you", we don't simply say "Yeah, me too!". We'll think. And we'll think before we think. We'll do that and only then we respond.

However, despite having this thinking habit, we tend to submit ourselves to simple acceptance or ignorance, whether we like it or not. And the word 'okay' is the core to show the level of our feeling related to the response we produce. Don't believe me? Well, you're allowed to disagree. But please, keep reading.

'Okay' is always produced together with like, 88,000 intonations, and in fact I believe this word is definitely one of the most pronounced words in the whole world. It doesn't matter if each of us here speaks in different languages because everybody uses and understands this word, and its definition is universally understood (even though I still wonder why 'okay' and not 'ojay' or 'olay' or some other pronunciations).

When we accept a situation, we use 'okay' to show we're happy with it. For instance, "Okay, I accept that", "Okay, that is great!" and "Okay, I forgive you". If we don't want to accept it, we'll still use 'okay', but to show that we're trying to ignore it and just move on. Like, "Okay, whatever!", "Okay, your loss", and "Okay, fine!" Little do we know that in these short sentences there lies a hidden meaning that says, "I'm not happy, but I'm okay with it."

So my point here is very simple, and I'm going to put it in a form of a question. Do we realize that God loves us so much that He gives us a brain to produce such a word that reminds us that even in sadness, disappointment & complete darkness, we can still believe everything will end up alright? He loves us so dearly and wants us to know that there's still hope and we will be okay; in however way He decides.