Social Outcast

My recent trip to KL was fun but something awkward did happen. It was the day of my scholarship interview at Taylor’s College in Petaling Jaya and my friend, X accompanied me there. As we arrived by taxi, I realized that X acted somewhat rigid and look very uncomfortable. I didn’t ask much since I was quite nervous about the whole interview, so I let it be…

But things got worse. We were walking around campus trying to find my interview venue which was at Level 5 of Block B3 and I wanted to go up and look around since it’s still early, so I walked towards the escalator.

Suddenly, X turned to me and said “Why don’t we try the lifs?”.

Instinctively, I asked him “What’s the difference of using the escalator and the lifts. Since the escalator is near, why not use it?”. X kept quiet, but I knew something was bothering X.

20 minutes had passed and we still couldn’t find the place, so I called Emily who was in charged of the scholarship interview. She told me to meet her at the reception which happened to be nearby. I told X that we have to go to the reception and X asked me whether he can just wait for me outside. Can you imagine that?

So I asked X “Why wanna wait outside? Damn hot. Inside got air-con ma.” X kept quiet again.

By then I was quite pissed of by X’s sudden stubbornness. So I told X to spill-it-out and tell me what the problem is.

And X said “So many rich kids studying here, feel so stressed la. Can’t seem to fit in with them”.

“Are you intimidated by them? That’s like so dumb. Who cares if they are rich, they are still human. If you feel that it’s a big deal, then act rich la.” I said, a bit taken aback by X’s low self-esteem and realizing that the escalator and reception area are full of loitering students.

But X insisted on waiting outside and I gave up persuading him. After my interview, X seemed more relaxed and we went for lunch at Bar BQ Plaza. We had a mutual agreement to not argue about his strange behavior anymore. Sigh…X should be more confident

This incident got me thinking not only about self-esteem, but also about stereotyping certain people or places or issues. So it’s a private institution or private college, but that doesn’t mean that it’s only for the rich and famous. Many are scholarship holders, if you really have what it takes, nobody cares about your financial background. However, I found that most Malaysians do stereotype a lot of stuff.

I experimented by wearing a singlet, shorts and sneakers for a day out at Time Square and everybody was staring at me, some whispered to their friends and some even giggles behind my back. All this time, those same people were acting seemingly normal towards a European tourist who has the same dress code as mine. Why? People stereotypes. It’s okay for foreigners to wear like that, but it’s not normal for me to do the same? What freakin’ rule is this?

Don’t judge others by their appearance or environment. I don’t think we have the right to categorize other people into groups. And if everyone is as easily intimidated as X, then everyone will be a social outcast.

“Don’t think people are stupid by how they look, because if they are geniuses, they’ll say how stupid you are to think of them that way. Who’s stupid now?”