Describe your what goes through your mind and what-not as you leave home and go about with daily life on a typical day in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Prior to leaving my home...
I check that all windows, doors & grills are locked & secured, leave my sliding door 50%-ish apart, & ensure that the television is left turned on, along with a few selective lights. Why?
Well, all to give the impression that there IS someone at home, to deter break-ins of course!
Last thing to do before getting into the car, is to inspect the car itself. Fyi to those not in the know, I drive a banged up lil' thing which has been on the road for over 20 yrs now. It guzzles engine oil more than I do water. Without the proper water / oil / etc checks (yes I have sufficient knowledge on what goes where & how- the car taught me over the years, see), the last thing I need is for the car to stall at some obscure road, with me alone in it, at night! ANY Malaysian would need no further explanation for that statement. Hint: dodgy opportunistic characters, robbers & creepy so called Samaritans / drivers in "need" to lure unassuming Samaritans, have made headlines here a time too many.
Immediately after getting into my car, I lock all the car doors, ensure that my bag is placed on the floor of my car, & that valuables are kept out of sight.
This is done to prevent anyone from breaking my windshield to make a grab out of my handbag / cellphone / wallet, or worse still, from hijacking my car & kidnapping me.
As I drive the car out of the front porch, I linger slightly to watch the automated front gate of my home close fully before driving away.
This is done to ensure that no one tries to rush into my home just as I leave.
Soon, I arrive at a t-junction which leads to the main road leaving my housing area. Though the structure of the road & the rules of the road suggests that I have the right of way. Hence I should also by right, need not slow down / stop at all. It is often that I do so to avoid any unfortunate incidents. This generally irks any driver who happens to be "unfortunate" enough to be behind me, to honk and show me their impatience for wasting seconds of their time. That particular junction in mention is famous for accidents (which I deem unnecessary), as drivers who do not have the right of way, think otherwise. Despite precautions, I've experienced a few brushes of near-collisions. Hence, I continuously choose my life over other people's impatience.
Moving on, I reach the traffic light which will lead me towards the highway. Red, Green, Yellow. The standard colours for every traffic light in the world. Watch the light go Green & you're set to GO! Right? Nope. Not to me. I tend to stall for at least 3 whole seconds to ensure that the road is clear of drivers & motorcyclists on opposite / other sides of the road, who feel that the Red light is really equivalent to Green. Just like those kiddy lessons we got about crossing the road, you gotta look left, look right, Aaand look left again. Clear? Set! Cross!
My most terrying experience with a traffic light?
As I was set to drive one fine day when the light turned green as the leaves on the tree, I halted not a moment too soon to watch in horror, a Fully occupied speeding school bus ZOOOOM past the nose of my car by mere inches, right in front of my very own eyes!! Till today, I shudder to think of what would have transpired, if it had been otherwise.
Driving on the road, I watch out for drivers who do not like to turn on the signal / indicators which would tell other drivers that they are about to change lanes. Those aren't too hard to spot as one can intuitively tell from the typical characteristics of a car's "body language" when drivers are about to change lanes, even though the decency to indicate as such for safety & courtesy purposes is absent. What's worse than those who don't use their indicator lights, are those who DO but DON'T change lanes / swerve into a junction despite what their indicator suggests.
_____________________________________________________________
What do I make out from it all?
One word: TRUST
That's the problem.
Somehow we've reached a point where we just can't trust anyone, anymore.
Be it by necessity, practicality, and in most cases out of fear for our safety, the trust is dead in our current society.
From the moment we step out into the world,
We can't trust that our homes are ever truly safe, that our personal safety will not be compromised because we "show-off" our stuff, that people do stop at junctions, will stop at the red light, will not change lanes when they didn't indicate that they would, that they would even when the indicator is there, that the person whose car has broken down by the roadside isn't a crook ready to turn on us, that when our cars breakdown we can accept help from strangers....the list which is endless begin right before you step out of the comforts of home.
Then again, how safe do you really trust it to be as you reside within its walls?
The sadder thing is that I haven't even delved into the issue of trust in relation to social / interpersonal interactions yet. However, is it any different, one wonders?
If I had a "driving personality", I'd drive with all my windows down, experience the wind in my hair, sloppily dump my stuff onto my passenger seat, and wear the clothes & accessories which I want, without a care for how much unwanted attention it may garner.
In an ideal world, I'd do all these while placing my trust that as long as I exercising my rights as a citizen without infringing on other people's, I can go about as I please.
Since I DO live in the real world, I have to find some form of balance in which I can express my "driving personality" whilst also drawing upon a form of compromised "driving personality" handed to me by the necessities of living among a society.
Hence begs the question, how much and often should we tell ourselves that we need to shield or hide or lie to protect who we are inside from other people around us due to the necessity / dangers out there which indicate that we simply cannot trust the people around us. How far should we keep others at bay? How much can you reveal? Can you be yourself?
Or must you only be what society wants / requires you to be?
How do we live out our lives?
Do you act out from who you are within?
Or do you react, out of what you fear outside?
The lack of trust in today's world permeates every level of the society of men.
From Macro to Micro
Can we trust the lands and its people beyond our shores? Our government? Our fellow countrymen? Our community? Our Boss? Our colleagues? Our acquaintances? Our friends? Our external family? Our immediate family? Ourselves? Can we trust in humanity?
Who do you trust?
I check that all windows, doors & grills are locked & secured, leave my sliding door 50%-ish apart, & ensure that the television is left turned on, along with a few selective lights. Why?
Well, all to give the impression that there IS someone at home, to deter break-ins of course!
Last thing to do before getting into the car, is to inspect the car itself. Fyi to those not in the know, I drive a banged up lil' thing which has been on the road for over 20 yrs now. It guzzles engine oil more than I do water. Without the proper water / oil / etc checks (yes I have sufficient knowledge on what goes where & how- the car taught me over the years, see), the last thing I need is for the car to stall at some obscure road, with me alone in it, at night! ANY Malaysian would need no further explanation for that statement. Hint: dodgy opportunistic characters, robbers & creepy so called Samaritans / drivers in "need" to lure unassuming Samaritans, have made headlines here a time too many.
Immediately after getting into my car, I lock all the car doors, ensure that my bag is placed on the floor of my car, & that valuables are kept out of sight.
This is done to prevent anyone from breaking my windshield to make a grab out of my handbag / cellphone / wallet, or worse still, from hijacking my car & kidnapping me.
As I drive the car out of the front porch, I linger slightly to watch the automated front gate of my home close fully before driving away.
This is done to ensure that no one tries to rush into my home just as I leave.
Soon, I arrive at a t-junction which leads to the main road leaving my housing area. Though the structure of the road & the rules of the road suggests that I have the right of way. Hence I should also by right, need not slow down / stop at all. It is often that I do so to avoid any unfortunate incidents. This generally irks any driver who happens to be "unfortunate" enough to be behind me, to honk and show me their impatience for wasting seconds of their time. That particular junction in mention is famous for accidents (which I deem unnecessary), as drivers who do not have the right of way, think otherwise. Despite precautions, I've experienced a few brushes of near-collisions. Hence, I continuously choose my life over other people's impatience.
Moving on, I reach the traffic light which will lead me towards the highway. Red, Green, Yellow. The standard colours for every traffic light in the world. Watch the light go Green & you're set to GO! Right? Nope. Not to me. I tend to stall for at least 3 whole seconds to ensure that the road is clear of drivers & motorcyclists on opposite / other sides of the road, who feel that the Red light is really equivalent to Green. Just like those kiddy lessons we got about crossing the road, you gotta look left, look right, Aaand look left again. Clear? Set! Cross!
My most terrying experience with a traffic light?
As I was set to drive one fine day when the light turned green as the leaves on the tree, I halted not a moment too soon to watch in horror, a Fully occupied speeding school bus ZOOOOM past the nose of my car by mere inches, right in front of my very own eyes!! Till today, I shudder to think of what would have transpired, if it had been otherwise.
Driving on the road, I watch out for drivers who do not like to turn on the signal / indicators which would tell other drivers that they are about to change lanes. Those aren't too hard to spot as one can intuitively tell from the typical characteristics of a car's "body language" when drivers are about to change lanes, even though the decency to indicate as such for safety & courtesy purposes is absent. What's worse than those who don't use their indicator lights, are those who DO but DON'T change lanes / swerve into a junction despite what their indicator suggests.
_____________________________________________________________
What do I make out from it all?
One word: TRUST
That's the problem.
Somehow we've reached a point where we just can't trust anyone, anymore.
Be it by necessity, practicality, and in most cases out of fear for our safety, the trust is dead in our current society.
From the moment we step out into the world,
We can't trust that our homes are ever truly safe, that our personal safety will not be compromised because we "show-off" our stuff, that people do stop at junctions, will stop at the red light, will not change lanes when they didn't indicate that they would, that they would even when the indicator is there, that the person whose car has broken down by the roadside isn't a crook ready to turn on us, that when our cars breakdown we can accept help from strangers....the list which is endless begin right before you step out of the comforts of home.
Then again, how safe do you really trust it to be as you reside within its walls?
The sadder thing is that I haven't even delved into the issue of trust in relation to social / interpersonal interactions yet. However, is it any different, one wonders?
If I had a "driving personality", I'd drive with all my windows down, experience the wind in my hair, sloppily dump my stuff onto my passenger seat, and wear the clothes & accessories which I want, without a care for how much unwanted attention it may garner.
In an ideal world, I'd do all these while placing my trust that as long as I exercising my rights as a citizen without infringing on other people's, I can go about as I please.
Since I DO live in the real world, I have to find some form of balance in which I can express my "driving personality" whilst also drawing upon a form of compromised "driving personality" handed to me by the necessities of living among a society.
Hence begs the question, how much and often should we tell ourselves that we need to shield or hide or lie to protect who we are inside from other people around us due to the necessity / dangers out there which indicate that we simply cannot trust the people around us. How far should we keep others at bay? How much can you reveal? Can you be yourself?
Or must you only be what society wants / requires you to be?
How do we live out our lives?
Do you act out from who you are within?
Or do you react, out of what you fear outside?
The lack of trust in today's world permeates every level of the society of men.
From Macro to Micro
Can we trust the lands and its people beyond our shores? Our government? Our fellow countrymen? Our community? Our Boss? Our colleagues? Our acquaintances? Our friends? Our external family? Our immediate family? Ourselves? Can we trust in humanity?
Who do you trust?
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