Photo by : Oxymanus
We have, in fact, two kinds of morality side by side: one which we preach but do not practice, and another which we practice but seldom preach.
Well,the aforesaid proverb would not have much bearing or relationship to what my next topic of blogging statements will conjure as reflected by what you will be reading very shortly.Simply put,it's one of the famous words written by Bertrand Russell who also has created several golden words pertaining to the philosophy of life for much of humankind thoughts and actions.
Tonight, i had the pleasure to encounter an old colleague or more precisely an ex -neighbour who used to stay near my home almost 40 years ago! Surely it has been a long time since then and that is what makes it even more interesting to discuss here for this moment. The place was at a McDonald's outlet in Ampang Jaya as i have selected this venue as the rendezvous for my meeting with a friend 2 hours after my iftar at Setiawangsa.
To my jubilant surprise, i met with my old neighbour and obviously, i was excited about it. Somehow, i noticed that not many people like to feel oblige to meet someone they once knew or happen to know, purportedly or not.It was something hard to establish or clear away, in this case some doubtfulness and reservations about a total oblivion of a character they once knew or seen or even heard, if that really matters. Sure, time or even years may have passed and people changed, whether through physical appearance or level of societal standards but surely middle age memory does not have to lapse quite easily for a business couple, this being my personal humble opinion.
Why do people run into oblivion ? Was it something they like to ignore, forget or just brushing off unnecessary wasteful encounters to avoid any personal embarrassment if such a situation persists or was it hypocrisy of sorts? What is worth the effort that make people want to exchange an exclamatory remark out of the blue in the most unusual places or of all unexpected times ( mind you, a place like Mcdonalds is definitely not unusual by any standards ).
As i would like to continue about this encounter, i introduce myself as the once younger neighbour that she used to know where cheerful childhood memories still linger evidently in my mind but apparently,the passing time has dragged her mind into a more clouded detail of apprehension ,hard to diffuse its origin of that "somebody" she might once knew.
It would have been a tough introduction for me, especially to accept such a denial of truth as i admittedly like to say that i am one person who is very hard to forget about people whom i have met before in my life, whether it be friends, relatives, teachers, neighbours, office colleagues or just plain acquaintances or associates . In my previous blog registers, i did mention about how i re encountered my old friends through communicating via the telephone with the help of the internet. It was a successful feat personally as i manage to address some long lost acquaintances and rebuild and rekindle old friendships long lost over time.
Even by giving some details and information to re assure my true identity did not hold any faint judgement or recognition as i spoke to her gradually. She keeps on missing my relativity link. Hmmmm, well some people do, it seems, i mean they forget easily but strangely, that really makes me wonder why.
So i realised that the man sitting opposite her was her husband, quite elderly i would say where our age difference is concerned. But again, that was not the matter.
Why would people think that they cannot recall a friend or neighbour or rather a reluctance to admit such face to face realities in rather good and healthy times ?
As a relevance to this,a few months ago,i had an uncommon opportunity to spot another ex working colleague of mine at a supermarket which incidentally was located adjacent to this same complex where i also met my ex neigbour tonight. The same words of initial denial were exchanged much to my disgust or lament but what could i do to re position her frame of thoughts at that juncture to make her remember me in as quick as possible moment after all these years of absence and disappearance? People seemed more comfortable to exercise their own prerogative about making their own decision to either accept your introduction or just ignore them wishfully.
I really felt funny about the whole situation where people "pretend" not to know one another especially if the person wants to admit their "acquaintanceship" that is deem unforgettable. Not because of any intolerable bad experience but about knowing one another way back when. True, over the years of our life span, we have met and mingled with many people, good or bad, young or old, rich or poor, clever or ignorant, humble or otherwise but i soon realised that many rich people did not like to associate themselves with someone they are rather not comfortable with. Come to think of this, i soon realised that this trait is very common among politicians, although i dont really mixed with them personally. Not that i did not have any chance to know them but simply because they like to put a barrier of ostentatiousness to themselves for others not to tread in their own privacies.
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