doolb

I was never there physically as I am now the time frame my parents were born. I don't know how my dad and mum respectively felt when he fell off his tiny bicycle at 7 or when she scratched her knees while climbing the hills to go to her friend's house. I can pretend that I do but I have no sight or recollection of such incidents. There isn't a faintest clue inside the memory bank.

In the evenings after dinner I would sit with my grandfather to listen to his stories. He was a mighty big man; tall, good looking, intelligent and he had a natural flair for languages. He didn't go to school for a very long time and then the Japanese invaded Malaysia. It was the devastation of World War II for 3 years and 8 months. I read about the Japanese occupation from books and prior to the infiltration of the Japanese, the British colonised us.

I am not going to regurgitate facts and dates for I am not a historian. The air that we breathe and the water that we drink is the same air and the same water that fed this Earth and is still sustaining its residents this very moment. If we are ashamed of our history, our ancestors and our identity then we are not only undermining our existence but we are effectively denying who we are. It is not about being an American, a British, a Chinese or an African. It is about being an Earthian - someone who lives on planet Earth, in the universe. This entire population contributed to and built this world. We are responsible for what we do. We are the makers and the destroyers.

The blood that flows in my body is the same blood that flows in yours. I can never turn back time to when my parents were teenagers; to know about their first date or where they met the first time. I have never experienced a war; never forced to watch innocent children killed and 12 year olds trained to throw grenades at the enemy's tanks. Perhaps even launched a missle at a bus load of women and children. What is the worth of a life in a battle? Can life even be measured? Should it be?

As I type this paragraph and as you read each word, somewhere on this planet, our brother or sister is dying. Another brother or sister of ours is responsible for waging endless wars. But what I am and are you doing to stop or to accelerate their deaths? There shouldn't be a choice. There shouldn't be an "or". The answer is obvious - everything.

If only we don't care so much about preserving our identity by changing the past, we don't have to prove to the world that we are somebody great. If we accept our identity as it is, we will know that no one gives a damn where we come from and what color we are. But the problem is that we are extremely cautious because we are actually ashamed of being who we are. Someone else is better because they have oil and gas or they don't have the brand of car we drive or they have a car but we don't.

My question is SO WHAT if we can't even afford a steering wheel? I remain my parents' child.

Good night and good luck.