I had a chat with a friend last week. He was of the opinion that I may be wasting my effort in writing my opinions in my blog and as well as sending letters to the media including Malaysiakini.
I asked him: do you think everything is alright and well in the country? He answered in the negative. Then I asked him, if you have a problem in your family, what do you do? He answered without hesitation: try to solve or fix the problem.
I said the key word is TRY.
I said the country is just like our family. We are part of the country and the country is just our big family. If there is a problem, we try to solve or correct it. But do not sabotage it because you do not sabotage your own family. We can and should voice out our concern, our feelings, and suggest ways to improve on whatever that we deem to be not proper and not fair. He replied that it would be futile to try to change the mindset of the people through writings and blogging.
I answered that if we wish to see the beautiful scenery at the back of a mountain, we would have no choice but to climb to the top of the mountain. We have to take the strenuous steps, one at a time, to climb up. The journey will be tough and difficult, but if we don't try, we will not reach the top and we will never get a chance to see the beautiful scenery at the back of the mountain. If we don't even TRY, how do we know whether we can succeed or not?
Similarly, I said, we should adopt the same attitude in whatever undertakings in our life. Climb every mountain and look for the nice scenery. We will discover that, by trying, our life will be full of meaning in the end. Even if we don't succeed in reaching the top of the mountain, we have started a path for our posterity to climb the same way, and it would be much easier for them because we would have cleared some of the most difficult path for them.
I used another analogy to convince my friend. This analogy I have used in my Chinese blog. I said I am like a small candle. The flame may be weak and can hardly light up a small room. But if many candles can be lit, it can even be bright enough to light up a whole square.
The key thing is to do what you believe is right. The key is to take the first step to climb the mountain. Young people, who are full of enthusiasm and idealism, should come forward to voice their opinion. Through participation in politics maybe, or alternatively, through writings in their blogs, through joining NGOs. Each of these young men and women would be a candle, and together they are going to light up the whole world.
I strongly believe that there is definitely light at the end of every tunnel.
I believe in a beautiful Malaysia, where everyone would be fairly treated, where everyone would have equal chance, where everyone would be friends, where freedom and rights of all people will be respected, where every sen collected will go back to the people and where all Malaysians will live happily ever after.