November 22, 2016

Do something for people to write or write something for people to do


Recently one of my favorite writers (from a local newspaper) passed away … I read almost all the articles he wrote on every Sunday and even though I don’t relate to every article … I must say I found great insights in many of his writings.

Soo Ewe Jin was one very remarkable writer … cherished by his readers and respected by his peers. He wrote with the simplest approach on ordinary things in life and yet able to create very meaningful stories. His writings have influenced me in many ways and I believe have also inspired many others like me … rest in peace Soo Ewe Jin.

Really, I wished I could write like him.

Someone once told me this … to be known, either you do something for people to write or you write something for people to do. I believe there is some truth to these words.

In my 50+ years of life, I have done all sort of things … “jack of all trades”, one can say but “master of none”, I must admit. You see, up to this point of my life, I have not really done anything and I don’t think I will do anything probably for the rest of my life that is worthy for someone to write about.

Then how about write something for people to do?

OK, let’s put it this way … I like to write and I must have wrote at least a millions words in hundreds of articles but for me to write something that people will do … I think it is a very far shot … very likely it will not happen.

Whatever I have written or going to write, are just things that I have experienced, things that I have learned from others, things I have read from other writers (like the late Soo Ewe Jin and a few others) and things I like to see happen before I leave this world. So there is nothing special and there is nothing new in what I have written and what I am going to write.

So no … I don’t think people will do what I have written. Really, it is the other way round … I am actually doing what other people wrote.

I like to write … to share my thoughts, to put across my views, to seek ideas, to challenge illogic conventions and maybe also to satisfy some of my curiosities in everyday matters. I write in simple words … with candor, cheeky at times and can be acerbic in certain matters. More importantly, I write in honesty, facts, science, logic and reality.

I am not a good writer like those who can weave words and create meaningful stories with the simplest of things … I tend to stir the hornet’s nest, I am controversially curious and I can be brutally blunt at times. From the comments I received … I believe many don’t like my approach. Maybe they don’t like my writings with direct words, maybe they don’t like my blunt approach, maybe they don’t believe in what I believed in or I don’t believe in what they believed in … hence the many displeased comments.

Look, we all have our own beliefs, we all experience things differently and we all have different approach in how we should live our lives … so we are all entitled to our own opinions. I respect others' opinions and accept their comments.

I will continue to write with simple words, with the same direct approach, with the same candor, with the same blunt logic and with the same acerbic tone … maybe many will find my writings difficult to relate to but I hope people can respect and accept my approach, my beliefs, my views and opinions with an open mind.