I have this dream of wearing a round-rimmed spectacles, wearing a black top, black shirt, grey veil and sit nearby a river, writing a poetry. I think becoming a writer is classy and mysterious. Sadly, I have a round face so round-rimmed spectacles are a big No-No. I’m chubby enough already, thanks. And one day, I told a very good friend that I would love to get a Masters in English.
She asked,’ Why? What are you going to do with it?’
Why not? What is wrong with studying something that I like, let alone the very medium of communication? And then it dawned in me that she was concerned on what I am going to do after that.
I do not know if other people face this kind of questions; especially those who has the chance of studying any kind of languages (ouh dear me I envy you). Have you ever been asked this question? I mean, someone asked me this question although I have not even registered or even applied for that kind of subject.
I know people are going to be concerned if say next year, I try to apply for another course like that. People will be asking ‘ Why that? Why not a continuation of your degree?’
Can we have verbal communication in formulas or codes? I mean, if you are in an organization, that may work like my job for example. But what about living among people, for example in KL (citing the numbers on buses do not count anyways). Of course we string words together to make sense. In that, I see that we need language to communicate. With this, I see that language is indeed important. Can we really understand E= mc2 if its not for language then?
If you are worried; those who are currently studying or plans to study anything about art, here’s some consolation taken from ‘Starter for 10’ by David Nicholls, page 114-115
‘The written appreciation and understanding of literature, or any kind of artistic endevour, is absolutely central to a decent society. Why d’you think books are the first things that the fascists burn?’ – Rebecca.
A Samad Said, Tongkat Warrant, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord William Goldings, Dame Agatha Christie. These are just some of the celebrated names in literature. Their works are timeless and although most of them are not with us anymore, their works on architecture are really here. They dabbled with language, experimenting with sentences to draw a picture, make us imagine the world that may or may not be fictional and personally, I think that is not easy to achieve.
Take Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank. Anne Frank was one of the most celebrated figures that emerged after World War II and she was really young, less than 16 years old. Why? Because she kept a diary during the Holocaust on what was happening to her and the family. If she did not appreciate literature, no one will know about what happened then, even the gist of it. She did not make it in the end; she died two weeks before the liberation in the concentration came but her words in her diary lived. Why again? Because she appreciated literature.
Some will take the stance that ‘a picture tells a thousand words’. I had the chance to look at a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in a carmaking company. There were tons of pictures and yet, if the SOP is given to a newcomer to the factory, it will take God-knows-how-long to explain the steps. Of course a picture tells a lot but adding sentences to them may it more easier to understand for novices, no?
Medical diagrams, charts, mathematical derivatives; all of these may not make sense to a layman if it isn’t for literature. Not that flowery kind of literature but you know, the normal sentences that people can actually understand. So, the next time people ask you why you might want to write, maybe you can come up with some point.
As literature or any other art representation is very important to a society, this means that each those involved in the sector has huge responsibility. Think before you do anything. We understand that you would want to tell the truth but stop and think for a while that ‘the end does not justify the means’ (niat tidak menghalalkan cara). Isn’t it nicer to have a story or a blog entry with clean representation of things? Although sometimes saying it in a blunt and maybe, quite controversial way may drive the point harder, think about the responsibility. I mean, this applies to me too.
So, I’m going to continue reading this book (seriously it’s so funny) and wish you a happy weekend. Do share any experiences if you have a good comeback on this.
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