The Many Chapters In Liyun's Life: ~Elderberry Mints Chapter~

For today, folks, I want to put a pause on my NS tales and instead, wax lyrical about the many unfair incidents that I get while in college. Yes, I need to let lose some steam in order to retain what little bits of sanity I have left due to the unjustness of things I perceive to be.

For example #1, I don't speak Mandarin. Or Cantonese, for that matter. Period. I am what they refer to as "OCBC" (orang cina bukan cina) and I'll be damned if I ain't proud of that. I noticed that while I was in NS, I mixed around with many people and all of them accepted me for who I bloody was, spik chinise or no spik chinise. But oh noooo, not here in college, no sirree. The people that I know, oh yeah, they think I be a class lower than they are just because I don't goddamned speak what they do. Let me count the ways of how t'is be so: I get left out of most conversations even though they just know I'm not on the same wavelength and yet they continue to talk in a language that means as much to me as gobbledygook does, really; I can sense that they think I'm an embarrassment to the Chinese people since I don't spew Chinese languages from my mouth, I prefer to talk in English see?; I even get left out of many events that take place among the people (ahh hell, I won't say who) just because I can't bleedin' talk in the same language as them; I get laughed at when I try to talk in "their" language, because it seems I have a matsalleh accent; Not only that, when I ask for help for translations or to learn a new word, it's all "Malaslah" or "Err.....you ask that person lah".

Sure, I know it's hard for you to communicate with me in English, I know many who do actually. But hell, you sure can see me trying to learn the languages now don't you? A helping hand every now and then wouldn't be too hard now would it? This whole nonsense also doesn't include licenses for you to exclude me from every goddamned thing that's happening and neither does it include you shunning me every single time. The whole irony is, I wholly prefer to mingle with those who accept me as me: the Malays, the Indians, the other races and that tiny minority of Chinese. The funny thing? Many Chinese people ask why I don't mix with the Chinese instead. Lyke.....uh-huh.

Now we have example #2 where many people, if not all, know about. This is where people who are blessed with good looks in the beginning shun others, who let's just say aren't as lucky in the looks department in the first place. I notice how it is, if you aren't a size zero, fair and petite, you're not one who's good enough to be associated with. This whole problem takes place just about everywhere possible and yes it does happen rampantly right here in Taylor's. I get to see it everyday where people who are legally classified under "non-attractive" are all grouped together and hang out together. Tsktsk........a nice delicious serving of discrimination and looks-ism anybody? Well then, coming right up and oh, while you're at it, do you want fries with that? People who are labeled as "the ones without the luck in the looks-department" are the ones with the nicest possible characters; they know how to make up for what they supposedly lack with their great personality traits. The shallow, superficial, petty, trivial small-minded ways of humans just boggle me most times. You could knock me down with a feather with all this nonsensationalness. No, really, you could. If you'd only tear yourself away from that mirror and get up enough guts to.