You Don't Have to Do What People Say

Have you ever felt like your thoughts don't matter? Like what you've said and what you think are just pieces of crap, that nobody cares about? No matter how hard you try to oppose, you'll lose? How much you've squeezed your brain to get that idea, no one really cares and all that? Ever felt that way?

Well, I have.

But my friend told me, that it's because they care that they oppose of what I say.

Okay, so here's the story...

This guy, uh, I'm gonna call him Derek. Okay, wait, that's not how I planned to start it, but whatever. So, anyway, this Derek, started a status saying that one of Malaysia's artist has become international. So, I asked, who she was. And people started saying things like, "OHMYGOD! YOU DON'T KNOW WHO YUNA IS?!"

Well, that's still fine. But then, there was this guy, James, who talked about other Malaysian artists, whom I've never even heard of. So I asked. And then, he replied that Sudirman, the Malaysian guy he talked about, was one of Malaysia's best artist, and that I shouldn't be living in Malaysia, if I don't take note of what happens. Okay, so I said that I'm fine with that, and I'll be leaving the country after I finished my SPM. He said that my brain isn't good, 'cause I dislike the country. But what's so wrong about not liking the country I live in? It's not like it's in the law or something.

Soon, everything became a debate. He was talking about how great Malaysia is, and I was opposing him. Until one point, I got bored and I said I didn't want to continue anymore and that he'd won the debate. YOU KNOW WHAT HE SAID?! HE TOLD ME TO GET OUT OF THE COUNTRY AND TO NOT EXPECT THE OTHER COUNTRY BETTER THAN MALAYSIA! Of course I'd expect the other country, the one that I'm gonna move to in the future better than Malaysia. If I wasn't expecting that, why would I wanna move? Like, duh?

So I told him again, after SPM. And he told me to move now, and why I'm still living here, in Malaysia. Here's my reason, because, I am a kid and I live with my parents. Un-der-stand? He told me never to come back to Malaysia. So what if I wanna come back? So what if I decided that I don't want to move? So what if I think Malaysia is not a good country? Doesn't mean I think it's bad. So what if I don't take note of everything that happens in this country? There is NO rule saying that I should know every single step people take in this country, is there? I can like or dislike and I can know and not know things in this country. It's my choice. Am I thankful for the country I live in? Yes, I am. I'm thankful that there are Halal food on every corner of the street. I'm thankful for the awesome bookshop at KLCC. I'm thankful for the people here.

But knowing that people want me out of this country just hurts. You don't have to get out of the country just because you don't like your country. You may want to, but you don't have to. That's just ridiculous. People who hate people who think their country is not all good is just silly. Because, we're people. And we're different. So, our minds and our points of view are different from others. It's not anybody's right to say that if you hate your country, you have to move to another country. As people, we have to respect others' points of view. Not everybody has the same thought as the other person.

At last, I took the blame for everything, as always. It's better that way. People don't like to admit defeat, that's what I've learned. Probably my fault anyway.

Let them be. Let them lie unspoken of, in his breast. However distinctly or indistinctly he entertained these thoughts, he arrived at the conclusion, Let them be. Among the mighty store of wonderful chains that are for ever forging, day and night, in the vast iron-works of time and circumstance, there was one chain forged in the moment of that small conclusion, riveted to the foundations of heaven and earth, and gifted with invincible force to hold and drag. ~ Charles Dickens