Taking Responsibility

Time to stop the blame game. Time to have a post-mortem done. Time to take responsibility for our actions. Yes, each and everyone one of us ochestrated this symphony. This concert taking place in Perak, which may pave the way for more concerts to take place elsewhere. One may ask, "But I sit in Penang, I have nothing to do with this. I am an ordinary citizen, trying to make a living, working to support my family," so on and so forth.

Yet, we as individuals, are connected to the rest of the society. As the saying goes "No man is an island". We cannot live as recluses. As Dr. Martin Luther King rightly said, "It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality. Did you ever stop to think that you can’t leave for your job in the morning without being dependent on most of the world? You get up in the morning and go to the bathroom and reach over for the sponge, and that’s handed to you by a Pacific islander. You reach for a bar of soap, and that’s given to you at the hands of a Frenchman.

And then you go into the kitchen to drink your coffee for the morning, and that’s poured into your cup by a South American. And maybe you want tea: that’s poured into your cup by a Chinese. Or maybe you’re desirous of having cocoa for breakfast, and that’s poured into your cup by a West African. And then you reach over for your toast, and that’s given to you at the hands of an English-speaking farmer, not to mention the baker. And before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you’ve depended on more than half of the world."

Man has always been looking at ways of protecting himself from the others. Since the stone ages , we have always had to deal with someone or something. We were fighting the animals, and since then we are still fighting the different societies, races, religions, and countries. We seem to gather as one, only when we see a common enemy. Somehow it is in our nature, to become united when we have some outsider come in. I suppose this world will only unite as one if we have some aliens coming from outer space !

Looking at the situation here in our country, what has transpired ? I do not want to go into the details since everyone is aware about it. Many of us are still stunned from the recent happenings and still reeling in shock and amazement about the whole thing. All these while, most of us were sitting in our comfort zones, ignoring what has been happening around us. Other than some politicians, (most of them have their own selfish reasons), many activists have been working tirelessly and selflessly to bring about a change in the society. They are not able to reach the larger public due to lack of manpower and social awareness amongst the people.

Though we saw the tsunami of change taking place during the last election, we did not do enough to bring about a proper change. Many of us were passive fence- sitters. We were not serious enough and took the responsibility of voting for our rights very lightly.

If we can only go beyond our differences and start to work as one - One Race ! If we can truly understand, that we are all interelated and each and every action and reaction of ours will have its own repercussions. Is it a dream, to begin with, to bring about a change in our thinking ? Are we as a society never going to grow up into adults, rather than remain like kindergarten kids fighting for a toy? When are we going to look at the bigger picture ?

"If we are seeking to develop a just society, some say that the important thing is to get there, and the means are really unimportant; any means will do so as long as they get you there. They may be violent or they may be untruthful. They may be unjust means to a just end. There have been those who have argued this throughout history. But we will never have peace in the world until men everywhere recognize that ends are not cut off from means because the means represents seed and the end represents the tree ". In the words of Martin Luther King.

Can our politicians work harmoniously, ironing out their differences and work genuinely towards a just society? Can we as individuals throw away our biasness and learn to accomodate each another? Can we as a society, work together, understanding and respecting each others differences ? Is it a dream ? Or am I naive ? Is my hope unattainable ? Have we become so arrogant and selfish that we can never look at the similiarites. As my teacher says, "We have not been trained to look at the similiarites but rather look at the differences."

Will we have the courage to look within ourselves and find our faults ? Will we have the strength to bring about a true change in ourselves ? Only if, we can come together as one race, going beyond our differences, are we going to be able to become successful in our endeavour. Before we can even become one as a human race, can we start off as One Bangsa Malaysia ? Is it too tall an order ? Otherwise, will it always remain a dream ?