Kick out the lazy bones.

Malaysia is a ‘hot’ country. No doubt about that. The hot weather; plus all the fuss over new leaderships for 5 states won by the oppositions; I’m starting to wonder: when all the talk will stop? When the work will start? Well, no need to rush them. They need the time. How about the rest of us? I say it’s already way past time to kick out the lazy bones [bold reminder for all of us], get out from the ever-comfort zones and realize what we have been forgetting before: not to take things for granted and the importance of looking ahead of us. Please don’t be like Patrick. T_T. (From the famous Sponge Bob cartoons). Live a life that is meaningful and larger than the life itself.

Living thousands miles over the sea for nearly 5 years and going back once per year to my lovely-heaven-country Malaysia makes me realize that we Malaysians often ‘overlook the picture’ and fuss over the unimportant things too much. Things starting to change nowadays but it’s not only the politics and Malaysia’s future bliss that need to be saved. It’s OUR ATTITUDE. A column writes by Raja Zarith Idris about Mind over Matters points out this: the ‘glories’ of Malaysians. He writes about how the Malaysians react to life after 5 decades we celebrate The Independence Day. The economic, education and life status of most of Malaysians are already high enough that they can purchase whatever they wish, at any price, and any time provided that most of us nowadays are fully equipped with the internet and online technology. Unfortunately the levels of reading in Malaysians are the other way around. How sad, we are really in the ‘New Fridge Syndrome’. He quotes an extract from Hope in Hell: Inside the World of Medecins Sans Frontieres by Dan Bortolotti.

“In his book, Dan Bortolotti recounted how Peter Lorber, a Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) volunteer, was given advice by the other, more experienced members about coming home to America after a mission abroad:

“When I took the first training course at MSF there was a joke going around called New Fridge Syndrome: You’re going to go off on your mission and you’re going to come home, you’re going to be sitting at the dinner table with your family, and you’re going to want to tell everyone about your mission – what you saw, the corruption, the dead people, the happy things. And your mother’s going to look at you and say, ‘Hmm, that’s wonderful. Did I tell you we got a new refrigerator?”

“Some returned experts are burning to share their stories and raise awareness in their own countries. But they soon realize that people don’t want to be told how lucky they should feel ... When they flush the toilet, they don’t want to be reminded that some refugees in a faraway land don’t get that much water in a day ...”

During the 50th year of Merdeka, do the younger Malaysians, want to be told over and over how things were before Merdeka was achieved? Perhaps they, like the Americans who are told by MSF volunteers how lucky they are, do not want to be reminded of their comfort zone.

In Ramadan, as stalls laden with food and dishes sprout up everywhere, do we really want to be reminded how lucky we are compared to the peoples in Darfur, Sudan, or in Gaza? Oh, believe me, I think based on the level of comfort we pampered ourselves everyday, we wont survive long IF we do happen to be in that place and bizarre situations. (God forbid, I certainly don’t want to be there without preparations, professionally or personally…)

Most Malaysians work not because they want to be in an office from 9am to 5pm every weekday but because they have a family to feed and bills to pay. What is happening in other countries isn’t as real as trying to secure a future for their children and themselves.

Where do we stand in all of this? Don’t get caught in the ‘storms of foolishness’. Sometimes, it is easier to help one person than aim to help thousands. But don’t forget, we should start with ourselves first, then and only then can we help others.

Gratefulness and happiness in life belong for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched and those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of life they lived.