A Universal Language?

I just finished reading a blog of a teenager ranting on a dominantly English community based website how much they don't like other people writing and posting in their own languages and they keep reiterating (for a number of times quite clearly) that they are not racist and that they are merely barraging the people who read their journal that they want their opinion to be stated and acted upon. Now, after reading such a thing the only thing I could think of was that they were indeed not racist but merely prejudiced against people who do not have English as their first language or proficient at it. It is the same in any language as it is in English, you want to be able to convey a certain feeling and emotion when posting your particular post by using your dominant language. If the work was to be translated into broken English or other broken languages the meaning will be lost and you are merely left with traces of what could've been a beautiful work.

Of course, for someone who is fluent in only two languages, one being a dominant language and the other being in a very small minority I do have frustrations over reading something that is written in neither languages but they are merely passing remarks that is hardly what I would call passionate dislike. Even if I do not know the language I rather pity myself for not being able to understand such a beautifully written work than blaming it on the artist who have done their work in their language. It is a pity that some audiences aren't able to appreciate the beauty of language even if they are not spelled using English letters. Of course this is merely restricted to those which are involved in using artworks in conjunction with written words as dialogues etc. Even if I wasn't able to understand what the words mean I do understand the artist's intention (albeit there's limitation but it's still recognisable) through the art. I mean, I don't really want to complain too much about this particular person, they did express that they were not racist, and I can see that, but to my mind they are discriminating against people who want to express their own creation in another language. If you aren't able to appreciate such a thing then you are a selfish audience.

And another thing, it seems that a lot of today's teenagers are simply very selfish. From what I have been able to read through their blogs and journals it leave me with a sour impression on what today's teenager's all about. I'm pretty sure I was behaving like them when I was younger but not perhaps to the extent of being as demanding as they are. I guess in some parts they do behave in such a way due to the social pressure in schools and their communities and not to mention being thrust into the business world by working part-time jobs at such a young age. I often do wonder where my younger days have gone, not for myself, but for the younger people of today.

A Reflection: Freedom

It is a pity that we are a society that has to abide by the rules and regulations of mostly the government and bureaucracy but for some parts common sense do serve as a catalyst, for us as individuals to know how to behave with one another. I know that the main purpose of such rules to exist is to maintain order and peace. But it is such a pity that since we are young we have been forced to accept rules and regulations set by the paper, common sense or traditional values are almost always extinct in today's society. We have laws to 'protect' us, we have rules on how to 'behave', we are not allowed to be extremely 'outspoken'. It is almost like the rules that were meant to protect us has robbed us of our own freedom. It feels like there is no such thing as trust between each human beings when we can 'abide' by the rules and play the games in (legal) courts.

Of course I can understand the dilemma of not having these rules; criminal activities would rise, people with too much power would roam free and the world would be in constant chaos. Which is truthfully not far from what it has been today and probably what will become in the future. Our society's value has changed considerably as you grow older, in the past I used to value everyone else around me, giving a helping hand, being kind, respect the elders, help the society to be a better place to live in. As you grow older you started to realise that our existence are merely a facade, a way for the modern society to function like an industrial factory. Occasionally there are those who are genuinely kind, which are a rarity amongst the majority, the rest of us are selfish individuals with nothing in common except perhaps the thought of protecting oneself from being sidelined by the rest of society. There are of course rebels who constantly try to bring chaos into order, some succeed with positive results others often failed and become outcasts.

But still, the rest of us feared retribution from not being able to abide by these rules and regulations. It was never a choice to simply live life to how we want it to be. I don't think I was aware when I was younger how much society has embedded within each of us a perception that rules and regulations should be followed to the absolute. It was simply the older people are the wiser they are therefore follow their footsteps and their advices. But again, those people who are older in the past have been embedded by the same rules and regulations we have to abide by. It is a neverending cycle of constantly being bound by the same thing we want to break free from. Freedom was never a choice, freedom never existed in the first place.