There are three things that should not be brought up in small talk: Religion, Politics and Finances
I agree with the third point, nothing drives people crazier than a fee hike. Just some random yet disturbing thoughts floated through my mind as I’m planning on how to begin writing my ISM (Independent Study Module) Paper. I need to take the trash out and drain the sceptic tank before I start, especially since the paper deals with matters too close to our hearts.
Singapore is well and truly going through an interesting time, with a young generation torn between two paradigms, one of conformity, and the other of breaking free. It’s interesting when I examine what my paper deal with, and I notice that the conclusions I have (or rather, I will) draw doesn’t well and truly reflect the true situation on the ground. We laugh at non-conformists, I argue, but deep down inside, I know what we truly want, we want to be free. To go with the norm, or to deviate… why the seemingly paradoxical behaviour. But, there are stormclouds in the horizon, perhaps signally the winds of change brought by a more liberal generation, but change… is a scary thing.
And so I eavesdrop to learn about the grumblings, oh, the Overheard, what has thou done to me… When you learn things about what (metaphorically) happens in the parents’ bedroom, you get pretty disturbed. I’m a pacifist by nature, unfortunately, and when I hear the reverberations of the shouting and screaming behind the closed door, and the rumbling from flying projectiles, I get pretty unnerved.
Information is a powerful and dangerous thing, and I hope the grapevines have been truthful, and at the same, perhaps only a harbinger of something bad but not brutal. The eye of the storm may be approaching, but people, like the winds are chaotic, and a small change could divert the path, sending the typhoon to a forgotten death. But, I will still sandbag the door, and hope that the torrential rain of inanity and human emotion, combined with the lightning bolts of politics, and the thunderclaps of argument and endless debates, will go away, without washing away my sanity and faith in human beings.
…..
PS: Oh well, I rant in metaphors, because they somehow ease the brutality of the human condition, and the acerbic description that I am most tempted to use. They somehow cover the hot cinder below, leaving only the heat above, without the fiery glow. Ah, to indulge in an endless stream of metaphors is beautiful, conveying what you want to say, to perhaps only those who understand the context, and at the same time, expressing what I need to say in a suitably ambiguous manner, that will not implicate myself in any way. But, the purpose is fulfilled, as my issues are now stored extra-somatically, and no longer within the deep recesses of my already world-weary mind.
