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Thursday, April 16, 2015

A nation of hypocrites

Instead of demanding for a leader of high morals and integrity, what we need is to become people of high morals and integrity ourselves.
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I spent the entire day yesterday trying to come up with something to write about. Sadly, my brain failed me.
Having spent countless hours staring at my laptop screen, reading political articles about loyalty to party, calls to resign, who should shut up, questions unanswered, yabadi, yabedu, yabeda. I decided enough is enough.
That’s it. I am getting sick of all this shit. My mind has been tortured enough and it needs a good rest. So I decided to head out to calm myself hoping I would be inspired to write something before my editor starts breathing down my neck.
And where did I go for inspiration? Starbucks.
You see, I secretly have a crush on someone who works at Starbucks (well I guess it’s not a secret anymore). She is a barista, a damn good one. Jo (lovely name, I must say) is petite and cute yet has a magnanimous voice that could storm the entire store. She has the most gorgeous eyes and the sweetest smile.
Rewind. Did I say SHE? Yup, I did.
Err, does that mean I am a lesbian? A bisexual maybe? Well, even if I am, what does my sexuality have to do with anyone else, right?
Well, apparently it does.
We live in a society where people love sticking their noses in other people’s business. These are the people who set standards of what is socially acceptable and what’s not. And when one does not comply, they are quickly branded troublemakers and deviant. They become outcasts.
This is exactly the reason why most of my homosexual friends are reluctant to come out of the closet. Day in day out they live suppressing their own identities fearing they will be ridiculed and rejected by society.
Yes, LGBT is against the law – but which law stops two men from holding hands? Or two women from falling in love with each other? Or for a man to wear make-up? How does what takes place inside four walls between two (or more) consenting adults become anyone’s business?
And yes, LGBT is in fact against most religions. So, if you are a religious person, don’t be a LGBT lah! Apa susah?
We behave like highly pious people as we make it our duty to ‘cleanse’ our society from practices that are unacceptable as per the dictates of our religion, but despite trying very hard to paint our society with colours of purity, we forget to look at ourselves in the mirror. Do we practice what we preach?
What right do we have to press others to follow our set of beliefs?
Think.
How does a person’s preferred way of life affect you and the rest of society?
This is not only about LGBT. This is about everything. This is about you and I and that voice inside our heads that criticises people for being ‘different’ from us.
Why do we have expectations of how others should live their lives? Why do we compare ourselves? Why do we discriminate? Why do we form stereotypes and prejudices? For what? Is there a ‘holier than thou’ award which I do not know about?
We speak highly about freedom and human rights. We march on the streets fighting for freedom and human rights. We protest against draconian acts that limit our freedom and human rights. Yet we voluntarily limit our own freedom and human rights by means of social norms.
Have we turned into a nation of hypocrites?
If we believe in freedom of speech and freedom of expression and freedom to do whatever we desire as a civilised human being, why don’t we believe in freedom of religion, freedom of sexuality and freedom from social norms?
Why do we cherry pick our freedom and human rights?
A writer in his recent article said what Malaysia most needed was a leader who had high morals and integrity. I say stop being a hypocrite. What we need the most are people with high morals and integrity – people who are not hypocrites.
Everything begins with us – the people. It begins with us fighting hypocrisy with diplomacy. Learning not to stick our noses at matters that don’t concern us and starting to question matters that do. Learning to respect and understand that everyone has a equal right to live as they wish so long as it does not harm others in our society.
Perhaps when we have become a people of integrity, it wouldn’t be so hypocritical of us to demand for a leader with high morals and integrity.
So, am I a lesbian? Or a bisexual? Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not. The last time I checked, my sexuality was no one’s business.

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