this is not ranting or complaining..
those who know me well know that I like to make this kind trivial observation.
and i have long made peace with the way the world works.
so few months ago I stayed at our friend's beautiful villa at Bali.
she happened to have two dogs who were roaming around freely and obviously, being someone who is not into furry and lick-y pets, I was troubled most of the times.
couldn't get my head around the idea of eating and playing with dogs at the same time.
and as i observed, i realised that probably more than 90% of our friends (there were like 20++ people) who were there were either lovers of dog or at least, they were dog- friendly folks, totally cool with getting licked all over and stuff.
I knew I belong to the minority group but I didn't expect the group to be that small.
I also noticed how some of my friends were astonished by the fact that I did not like dogs.
'how could you not like dogs?'
pretty much that was the reaction.
and honestly.. I don't even know why do I need to explain. like do i need to explain why I don't like to wear batik? :D
but let me offer some possible explanations:
1) my childhood memory of dogs involves scenes of me getting chased by dogs rather than those feel good Hollywood dog movie scenes.
2) i don't like the idea of being licked and dealing with pets saliva, be it dogs or any other animal really.
not that my reasoning matters.
it was simply not cool to not like dogs.
being dog loving has somewhat become part of those little features that boost your cool factor as a decent human being.
and so it is with batik and being Indonesian.
you just earn brownie points by championing batik.
and when you wear your batik to an international event, even more brownie points!
and again.. people were astonished when they found out that i didn't like batik.
that's why.. never buy that whole 'be yourself' lie, honestly.
most of the time I think you get more approvals by being what your society agree to be good.
and then.. add a little bit of that 'originality' on top of it.
those who know me well know that I like to make this kind trivial observation.
and i have long made peace with the way the world works.
so few months ago I stayed at our friend's beautiful villa at Bali.
she happened to have two dogs who were roaming around freely and obviously, being someone who is not into furry and lick-y pets, I was troubled most of the times.
couldn't get my head around the idea of eating and playing with dogs at the same time.
and as i observed, i realised that probably more than 90% of our friends (there were like 20++ people) who were there were either lovers of dog or at least, they were dog- friendly folks, totally cool with getting licked all over and stuff.
I knew I belong to the minority group but I didn't expect the group to be that small.
I also noticed how some of my friends were astonished by the fact that I did not like dogs.
'how could you not like dogs?'
pretty much that was the reaction.
and honestly.. I don't even know why do I need to explain. like do i need to explain why I don't like to wear batik? :D
but let me offer some possible explanations:
1) my childhood memory of dogs involves scenes of me getting chased by dogs rather than those feel good Hollywood dog movie scenes.
2) i don't like the idea of being licked and dealing with pets saliva, be it dogs or any other animal really.
not that my reasoning matters.
it was simply not cool to not like dogs.
being dog loving has somewhat become part of those little features that boost your cool factor as a decent human being.
and so it is with batik and being Indonesian.
you just earn brownie points by championing batik.
and when you wear your batik to an international event, even more brownie points!
and again.. people were astonished when they found out that i didn't like batik.
that's why.. never buy that whole 'be yourself' lie, honestly.
most of the time I think you get more approvals by being what your society agree to be good.
and then.. add a little bit of that 'originality' on top of it.
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