Naturally, when you think about it, everybody's life is actually very simplistic.(Did I spell that right?)
We as human beings, are the ones who made our own lives the difficult, complicating and terrible it may seem now. We as human beings, are the ones who have the grasp in what we think and in what we feel. We as human beings, are the remote control of our own destiny to our own happy-ever-after. We as human beings, need not listen to others to how we may plan our own future. That is because, we stand for ourself. We need not others to support ourselves like some broken down chair. We have two legs of our own and we decide whether we want our lives to be complicating or just simplistic.
Everytime we seem to be down with a problem, we find ourselves either feeling great that we can solve it or just cursing ourselves for our own non-existent lame genes. I find that such an act should not be encouraged. Our lives is something we should be able to treasure and find that, even when we become much more matured and wise, we can still look back at our younger days and tell ourselves that I had a wonderful teenage life. We should not be looking back and say, "All I could remember was books and books and books over and over again" or "Well actually, I think I slept through it". It makes life during the retiring part of our lives even more saddening and horrendous.
So what if you smoked when you were a teenager, or savoured much liquor or even danced all the way through your teenage years, that was a life you chose. Whether or not it seemed life was simple to you, that is up to you to decide. Some people might think, being pregnant even while still schooling and having a seriously terrible time trying to raise the child is actually a simple life. Who are you to judge people? Simplicity is very much dependent on our own opinions. That was a life the person chose once they decided to have underaged premarital sex. If they didn't want to have a life that complicating, they should have never ventured.
However, I am not saying that we should just camp in our own 'comfort zone' and never, ever try something new. Venturing to new areas in which we are not yet comfortable can sometimes bring the best out of us. It is always very interesting to find out everything about ourselves as much as we can. What we can do best, What kind of hidden talent that we have never known we had.
Now, I come to the reason why I actually wrote about life being simple. Today, I thought about my younger days as a child. There I was, being only probably around 5 or 6 years old and I had this cousin, she was like Form 4 or 5. Well, she stays in Penang and we only meet in Taiping(my hometown) only during CNYs and school holidays. During that time, going back to Taiping, I only looked forward to go back and meet her. Not for the fact that she's pretty or hot, but the fact that she tells very nice stories. I mean, come on, I was five.
So, coming back, she was a great storyteller. I really enjoyed her stories everytime, sitting there with my other cousins who were also like me, toddlers and just listening to her telling amazing, morally-inclined stories. Being in Taiping, there wasn't really much to do. So, most of the time, we had nothing to do. At night, after having dinner, the grown-ups would be downstairs chatting away, keeping up with their lives while my cousin starts telling these nice little stories to me. I had a wonderful time. She ranges her stories from the Monkey King to many other interesting stories. And most of them, I found out as I grew up, was actually made up by herself. It was really amazing of her.
And as I thought back being in that shoplot with my grandma, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, and everybody else, in that little shoplot in Taiping, with that 'kampung' feeling, life was simple then. I still haven't understood computers, or gameboys, or playstations, or CS, or all those tech. Life was simple. All that we had was that room we gathered in, lights that brightened the room, and a wonderful and creative storyteller. Again I emphasise, life was simple. She did not complain about those horrible times she's having in her school, those SPM problems just like what we may be doing to our cousins. Instead, she would prefer to act like a big sister to me. She has 4 siblings in fact, she being the fourth daughter in the family.
During those days, all I could hope for whenever my mom said we'd be going back hometown was just that that cousin of mine would be there too. Even when we were in Penang, visiting her place, I remember her taking sometime to tell another story in the car as we were driving to the restaurant for dinner. It was really, really exciting, thinking about what story she would tell, what fairy tale she would have conjured up while she had the time. I find that she made her life simple then. When we are with our family or relatives or friends, we take the time to really cool down.
Now, as I think about it again, I just can't figure out how she did it that time. I just can't be seen sitting down with my nephews and nieces and just telling them happy-ending stories. I find it really awkward. And besides that, my nephews and nieces would have their PSPs and Nintendos to conjure up stories for them. Then, they will be sitting down there with my brother yapping away about what that game is about, have they played that game before and bla-bla-bla.
How life was simple then for me, everytime I'm back in Taiping. With all those grown-ups having beer and laughing the night away with funny stories about their lives, while my cousins and I hide away upstairs to have our own 'camp-fire' story-telling sessions. I need not any techno gizmos to keep me company then. I just need my own imagination. Did I sound like Spongebob in the end? Gosh...
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