I
walked into class this morning. I was
all happy and chipper and well-rested after my 5-day Pchum Ben holiday. Eager to spread the goodwill, I bubbled on
about how everyone's holiday was.
I
was kind of surprised when I was unequivocally informed that the holidays had
universally been "bad". Given that the
culture emphasizes smiling and always being "happy", I was rather
taken aback.
Turns
out that somehow, without my knowledge or consent, the King Father, Norodom,
passed away Monday afternoon in a hospital in Beijing, China. He was 90 (so this wasn't entirely
unexpected). My students, nonetheless,
were incredibly depressed about it; it was as though a personal family member
had died. I marvel at this, having
watched several former US presidents state funerals without batting an eye.
Even
in the remotest areas of the farthest flung provinces, people found out about
this within minutes. Yet, somehow, I
managed to evade knowledge of this for 48 hours. I hate being the last to know! I guess that's what happens if you live inside a TV-less, Khmer-less, friendless bubble--you
miss out on stuff.
Classes
were then cancelled in the afternoon--except that students got wind of this and
decided that morning classes were also cancelled. No one was in my classroom when I walked in
for my second session--they'd all abandoned ship. As a consequence, I went home at 9:30 today,
past the Royal Palace.
The
Royal Palace is the reason that classes were cancelled. King Norodom's body is being flown in from
Beijing and taken to the Royal Palace for exhibition. Consequently, the cortege will be traveling
through town; there is a giant memorial outside the palace that was forming even
as I walked in this morning. I was wondering
why there there were so many military guys out front...!
Streets
are blocked off even just a block down from my apartment; I expect there will
be a pretty big crowd forming; dignitaries are expected to be in town for the
next week or so.
Dunno
how I'm getting to my Khmer lesson today, or if my school will even be
accessible tomorrow morning. Meh. Whatever.
Even though it's a life-and-death situation, I guess it's not a
life-and-death situation.
You're the most annoying creature i've ever met. if you don't much show your empathy or respect for a deceased person, monarch or not, you don't have to say any useless craps as you did. i know it's your right to express your opinions, but it's also my right to express that i find your opinions are just plain stupid and mindless shits, and they become so irritating to bear that i have to drop a comment in your stupid post. if you care so much about your work or your wage, which is good for yourself i guess, but at least you should try to be more sensitive, try to understand other people a little or just shut the fuck up and ignore the whole thing for no shit matters to you except yourself. I don't ask for your mourn or pray for someone you don't know or care, but you kind of indirectly and gradually show what a bitch you have become, a cold unresponsive bitch i must add. Maybe no one says this to you, but i will, as for someone like you who only feels sorry for yourself, maybe you don't understand human emotions work. If you love something or someone, you feel upset when you lose them, not matter how small, and that's what make us human. The people you're talking about, they're not stupid,they lost their loved one, some of your people cry over a death of your beloved dogs, because it means a lot to your family, so imagine someone who used to save you from slave-like state, trying to make life better for his people, what's not to mourn. And here you are saying shit over our heads, behind our back like a coward, you said it's like they had lost a member of their family, and I bet you're being sarcastic. But that's how it feels like for most Cambodians, those who have humanity and compassion. They don't let their knowledge and intelligence override their heads. And don't even think about giving craps of the past history, we know what happened alright. You're from an unfeeling, arrogant, selfish and stuck-up world i get it, but if you don't believe, don't disrespect. You can call me a bitch for schooling an annoying fucked-up foreign teacher like you, I don't care. And if you're not happy living in our country or too American and too screwed to respect our culture and diversity, you can pack up your stuff and leave in the next 24 hours, go back to your glorious modern democratic country, not to mention oh-so-wow generation of yours. We don't need a heartless human being like you anyway.
ReplyDeleteDear,
ReplyDeleteYou are the one who has just spent 250 words chewing out a random stranger on the internet. I have to wonder who the heartless, annoying bitch really is.
I don't think you really understood the post or its intent. How does it disrespect the King Father? IT DOESN'T. I rather admired him, and would certainly not deliberately disrespect him in any way.
You pick up on the fact that a foreigner is reporting the death of the King, and you immediately assume disrespect. Why? You harp on culturalistic tripe that has nothing to do with what I'm saying and start drawing conclusions about my personal character based on your distorted perceptions. That's reactionary defensiveness if I've ever seen it, and it's totally unnecessary.
I'm simply reporting my impressions to my readers back home. I'm not here to please you. If you feel my blog posts are annoying, stop reading. If you feel your culture is superior, well, you're certainly not a good representative of it.
Grow up.
I know you would come and get back at me. I also knew that every word I had said to you wasn't entirely true, since I used to like you and know some part of you are still caring. But before I came to your blog, I expected to hear at least a small portion of kind words from your neutral compassion, but maybe I was wrong to expect in the first place, because I didn't feel an ounce of sympathy from your part, nothing, to sum up, you did very little in showing how much you cared about this matter of life-and-death thing besides yourself. I admit, I've become a bitch myself, but I just want to let you know, first I never said mean things to strangers, less of all foreigners, cos I understand we're just different no matter what. Second this shit only happens when people (foreigners alike) are being too caught up with themselves and still proud of how they don't give a damn over other people's feelings. And yeah, I won't deny the fact that I'm not worthy of my culture, I'm way too influenced and my society is being spoiled rotten each day, but it's humanity I'm talking about, and at least I know I care about the future of our humanity more than you do, what you did is complain, it's like you just go around spreading negative energy to everyone you touch, and you just happen to show me how it is being done.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm sorry I said those words to you, but I'm not sorry about why I said them.
No, Sovathary,
ReplyDeleteYou are wrong. Not everyone chooses to show their emotions--it doesn't mean they don't have them. As you may have gathered from the "Message to Jerks", I am here to tell the truth of my experience, and if you don't like it, rest assured, I don't care. If you're too weak to handle the mundane realities I have experienced over the last few months, too bad. I might further mention you've just sown the same negativity you accuse me of.
I don't think there's anything wrong with talking about how an event influences me--this blog is about things that happen to me. I am a reporter on my life, and I take on that role. A reporter should maintain neutrality and discuss personal impressions when reporting on a public event; likewise a reporter maintains a point of view when writing opinion pieces. I write both.
As a final word, I daresay you don't know how much I care about the future of humanity and our planet. Have you ever stood out in freezing rain making speeches against climate change? Have you gone door-to-door trying to raise funds for the future of humanity? Have you gone hungry for days trying to save the money for future travels to the UN so you can stand up for the very future of civilization? I thought not. But I have. Stop making assumptions.
If only you took time to write just one sentence, just one sentence that read, "May he rest in peace," or some sort of supportive message at the end of your post, I wouldn't have said anything.
ReplyDeleteYou might think some people who don't show doesn't mean they don't care. Some people show so much doesn't mean they truly care. It's what in the heart that counts.
But I think that's what makes most people misunderstand each other. They don't talk their feelings, they assume others to see what inside their hearts.
I admire all your humanitarian efforts, it's surprising to realize this I admit. But there are things that I won't know about you because they're hidden or unshared. You're dealing with people here, and people would fall into assumption, i'm not god to know everything you have done, so how the heck was i supposed to know. All I need is a kind word to say that you care. But now, never mind.
As a person, I apologize to you, I was wrong to attack your opinions in the first place, no matter how I slice it, it's still wrong to do that. I'm sorry and I will take your "message for jerk" and leave your blog.
Thank you for all those nice memories you shared,
And sorry for what has happened now,
S.B
Thank you and good bye.
ReplyDelete