My apathy

I remember somewhere in August when I posted something about the Malay community initiative to raise awareness through the Lebih Sexy, Katakan Tidak campaign. That was roughly around the time the campaign was launched. Fairly recently, a press release stated that the campaign has been labelled a success for the awareness it has created.

Personally, I think it's all just wayang. Granted that the campaign is targetted to the youths who are, in a way, uncorrupted as yet, to create that awareness that it ain't cool to be pregnant. Well, that would work if the social framework within which the youths live in. It's always the environment in which we are brought up in that moulds us into the person we are today, though there are the occasional exceptions. If the correct values are instilled into the youths from a young age, there wouldn't be a social problem now would there?

A friend highlighted to me about a blog which she read some time ago where the author, a Malay lady, disses another Malay lady blogger for her shamelessness in blogging about her drinking sessions. As most Malays are Muslims, it's fair to assume that she did commit a sin as drinking is strictly forbidden in Islam, as is pre-marital sex. However, when looking at the author's - the one doing the dissing - profile, I saw pictures of her frolicking with her husband and son, only clad in a bikini, which is also forbidden in Islam.

When highlighted of the fact, she was adamant that there's nothing wrong with wearing a bikini. Herein lies the irony. Here she was dissing someone else of shamelessness while failing to see that she was shameless in her own right. Now, I'm not about to start dissing anyone here, but there's the problem with our Malay community. We try so hard to see the failures of others but fail to see our own failures. While we look upon with disgust at the youths indulging themselves with such vices, we fail to see that we ourselves indulge in other vices. While there is nothing wrong in pointing out the failings of others, we have to be aware of our own shortcomings and mistakes and not just paper over them.

Quite honestly, I do have friends who indulge in such excesses. And I couldn't care less. I have friends who also posted about their wild lives, the parties they were at, the beaches they frolicked in and the drinks they have drunk. While I think it is wrong for them to indulge, I can't force my own beliefs on them. As friends, and as human beings, we are all subjected to the same emotions and moments of weakness, so why should we question what they do?

Apathy? Maybe.

Sometimes it's better to live with the apathy than to poke our noses to where it does not belong. So what if he/she decides to drink their sorrows away or even for the pleasure? So what if he is a womaniser and she is the village bicycle? In the end, it's between them and the Almighty. Like I said before, it's best if we live our lives as we see fit in the hope that we have lived a good life with little regrets and in the knowledge we lived as it has been ordained by Him.

Why bother about what others are doing wrong when we should worry about ourselves and that those closest to us, who share our beliefs, live their lives according to those shared beliefs?