I took a cab home from work just now. During the journey, the uncle kept talking to me but he didn't have a very good grasp of English. Not that it really mattered. But since that he was making an effort to interact with his customer, so i pretended to be enthusiastic about the conversation.
I tried to answer in simple sentences, using the simplest words ever. And i even laughed at jokes, not that i know they were jokes, but he laughed after he said that, so i'm sure they were jokes.
Then slowly our conversation died. I tried to read my book, but it was too dark. He suddenly increased the volume of his radio, which didn't matter to me coz it was in Chinese and it was news.
So i guess by then it was 12am.
Anyways, he listened and then he told me what the news was about. Apparently there was this Singaporean who got murdered by some Osama people. I was like, What? Never knew that some Singaporean was in hostage! But then again, i rarely read NEWS news.
Frankly, i wasn't even sure whether what i heard was correct at first coz his English was really pretty bad, so he might have meant something else. But yeah, no.
He later said (not a quote, but something like that), "Wah why all these Muslims like to kill people? Bla bla bla..."
Excuse me?! Who am i then?? Ok either it was really dark then that he couldn't tell that i was Malay or he was just really really bad in forming sentences in English.
Well yes, Malay doesn't mean Muslim, though most of the time yes, but yeah most Singaporeans has this problem of thinking that all Malays are Muslims, Indians have to be Hindus and they can't differentiate between Tamil and Indian.
Back to story. At first i thought that he was being sarcastic towards me and i had to say something in defence of my fellow Muslims. But then i realised that whatever he said was nothing personal against me. It was just something that he thought. Just his opinions.
But is it true? That most people, especially the.."uncle-uncle" type, think that Islam is a religion that portrays violence? No religion teaches violence, but when some Muslims use the name of religion for their selfish behaviours, people just assume that,"Oh, why are Muslims like that!"
Well, i'm glad to say that some people, mostly my non-Muslims friends are aware that all these terrorism stuff has nothing to do with the real teaching of Islam. But it's just so sad to see people..uncles...who think they are right, and you have this urge to educate them about your religion and stand up for it, but you know whatever you say won't make much of a difference coz that's what they think.
It's not that they are stubborn, it just that it takes more than words from a 19 not-so-pious year old Muslim to make them realise their misconception.
And when i came home, i went online, i realised that uncle was totally wrong about his whole story! Yes a Singaporen has been killed. But no, she was killed in Mumbai, by some terrorists there, not some "Osama people"!
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cna/20081128/tap-947-singaporean-held-hostage-mumbais-231650b.html
It's ridiculous. Get the fact right first man! Oh wells.
Look at the bright side. I finally read up on some current affairs.
~
My room is exceptionally clean today. No, not because of Hari Raya. And no, the paternal grandmother isn't visiting anytime soon. Zimah decided to clean the house, after so much persuasion on my side. Hoorays!
~
This week of Survivor sucks!
I tried to answer in simple sentences, using the simplest words ever. And i even laughed at jokes, not that i know they were jokes, but he laughed after he said that, so i'm sure they were jokes.
Then slowly our conversation died. I tried to read my book, but it was too dark. He suddenly increased the volume of his radio, which didn't matter to me coz it was in Chinese and it was news.
So i guess by then it was 12am.
Anyways, he listened and then he told me what the news was about. Apparently there was this Singaporean who got murdered by some Osama people. I was like, What? Never knew that some Singaporean was in hostage! But then again, i rarely read NEWS news.
Frankly, i wasn't even sure whether what i heard was correct at first coz his English was really pretty bad, so he might have meant something else. But yeah, no.
He later said (not a quote, but something like that), "Wah why all these Muslims like to kill people? Bla bla bla..."
Excuse me?! Who am i then?? Ok either it was really dark then that he couldn't tell that i was Malay or he was just really really bad in forming sentences in English.
Well yes, Malay doesn't mean Muslim, though most of the time yes, but yeah most Singaporeans has this problem of thinking that all Malays are Muslims, Indians have to be Hindus and they can't differentiate between Tamil and Indian.
Back to story. At first i thought that he was being sarcastic towards me and i had to say something in defence of my fellow Muslims. But then i realised that whatever he said was nothing personal against me. It was just something that he thought. Just his opinions.
But is it true? That most people, especially the.."uncle-uncle" type, think that Islam is a religion that portrays violence? No religion teaches violence, but when some Muslims use the name of religion for their selfish behaviours, people just assume that,"Oh, why are Muslims like that!"
Well, i'm glad to say that some people, mostly my non-Muslims friends are aware that all these terrorism stuff has nothing to do with the real teaching of Islam. But it's just so sad to see people..uncles...who think they are right, and you have this urge to educate them about your religion and stand up for it, but you know whatever you say won't make much of a difference coz that's what they think.
It's not that they are stubborn, it just that it takes more than words from a 19 not-so-pious year old Muslim to make them realise their misconception.
And when i came home, i went online, i realised that uncle was totally wrong about his whole story! Yes a Singaporen has been killed. But no, she was killed in Mumbai, by some terrorists there, not some "Osama people"!
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cna/20081128/tap-947-singaporean-held-hostage-mumbais-231650b.html
It's ridiculous. Get the fact right first man! Oh wells.
Look at the bright side. I finally read up on some current affairs.
~
My room is exceptionally clean today. No, not because of Hari Raya. And no, the paternal grandmother isn't visiting anytime soon. Zimah decided to clean the house, after so much persuasion on my side. Hoorays!
~
This week of Survivor sucks!
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