One should not be surprised when one realised that there is such a thing as a third-rate mind and, of course, it is wonderful to observe how a third-rate mind works.
We have a eminent person or rather a person assuming a prominent position formerly and now thinks that he is of such a stature to pronounce on the way forward for the nation in a particular direction in a manner that is healthy and enlightening.
But we have been dismayed.
He quoted the Constitution saying that this is the official national entity - say, the hibiscus which incidentally is supposed to be our national flower, and that some pacific island love song which became popular in a neighbouring country is now the tune of our national anthem - then the interpretation, according to this individual, is that, for the sake of national unity, all houses should be planting only the hibiscus and playing only this pacific island love song.
All languages are vernacular and the only official one that I know is the official language of the world is called esperanto which is an artificially invented one, and which nobody likes.
To pick out one and say is the official language is fine - but it does not say it is the only one. We have this problem with the idea of the one religion, and the world has not stopped fighting over which one is the only one yet.
If we really want to foster unity, we should be talking about tolerance - the ability to accept the many and see all of them as one, as of the one, as of the spectrum of the original one.
Unity is about belonging, about feeling being at home or at one together with one another.
The feeling of unity over food is the variety we all share and we do not really care about the origin of the original recipe. Each of us will have our own dietary requirements, and there is really nothing wrong about being choosy over food. As one man's meat is another man's poison, there is freedom of choice, and freedom to put whatever we wish or wish not into our own mouth and our soul and our being.
Unity is not the power of one. That the characteristics of one group should predominate the whole is not unity. We have already seen how vehemently the group has defended the use of its language by "others" which is supposedly not in accord with how the language has been used in the way they imagine they have been using that language. It is therefore incredulous that there is this simultaneous justification that the language should be further abused whose mother tongue it is not supposed to be.
It is this incongruity in our thinking in many of the major aspects of our national life that is creating this Great National Dissatisfaction that is demanding that the whole situation should now really change for the better.
While the ordinary people are happily living together to the extent of centuries of social intercourse, intermarriages, and free exchange of ideas and fun, it is policy that is trying to steer the ship onto a course that is not in sync with the national undercurrent.
Man (and woman) will die but the nation shall live and become what it naturally is. In the meantime, let us be happy victims, with a voice.
We have a eminent person or rather a person assuming a prominent position formerly and now thinks that he is of such a stature to pronounce on the way forward for the nation in a particular direction in a manner that is healthy and enlightening.
But we have been dismayed.
He quoted the Constitution saying that this is the official national entity - say, the hibiscus which incidentally is supposed to be our national flower, and that some pacific island love song which became popular in a neighbouring country is now the tune of our national anthem - then the interpretation, according to this individual, is that, for the sake of national unity, all houses should be planting only the hibiscus and playing only this pacific island love song.
All languages are vernacular and the only official one that I know is the official language of the world is called esperanto which is an artificially invented one, and which nobody likes.
To pick out one and say is the official language is fine - but it does not say it is the only one. We have this problem with the idea of the one religion, and the world has not stopped fighting over which one is the only one yet.
If we really want to foster unity, we should be talking about tolerance - the ability to accept the many and see all of them as one, as of the one, as of the spectrum of the original one.
Unity is about belonging, about feeling being at home or at one together with one another.
The feeling of unity over food is the variety we all share and we do not really care about the origin of the original recipe. Each of us will have our own dietary requirements, and there is really nothing wrong about being choosy over food. As one man's meat is another man's poison, there is freedom of choice, and freedom to put whatever we wish or wish not into our own mouth and our soul and our being.
Unity is not the power of one. That the characteristics of one group should predominate the whole is not unity. We have already seen how vehemently the group has defended the use of its language by "others" which is supposedly not in accord with how the language has been used in the way they imagine they have been using that language. It is therefore incredulous that there is this simultaneous justification that the language should be further abused whose mother tongue it is not supposed to be.
It is this incongruity in our thinking in many of the major aspects of our national life that is creating this Great National Dissatisfaction that is demanding that the whole situation should now really change for the better.
While the ordinary people are happily living together to the extent of centuries of social intercourse, intermarriages, and free exchange of ideas and fun, it is policy that is trying to steer the ship onto a course that is not in sync with the national undercurrent.
Man (and woman) will die but the nation shall live and become what it naturally is. In the meantime, let us be happy victims, with a voice.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.