A Rotten Apple.

Imagine a rattan basket of glistening red apples (or green, if you like them a little tart). As you draw closer, your eyes descry a rotten apple past its prime from an old stock that was mislaid in the basket by a scatterbrained supermarket employee. Now, all you see is that old putrid apple and you are under the impression that the rest of the aforesaid sheeny red apples are just as decayed. So you make it a point to stay away, reach for the oranges and decide oranges have more vitamin C anyway.


Oh, poor glistening red apples who’ve worked so hard to grow into crunchy, succulent fruits just so you can take a nice bite out of them, whose dreams are now foiled by a single decaying apple. (Or the distrait dude who unintentially put it there.)

Again, imagine a Malaysian — or an Asian, for that matter — who went overseas yet he or she couldn’t recite a word of English. The locals in that region will have the impression that all Malaysians/Asians are absolutely shite at conversing in English. As a fluent English speaker and a Malaysian/Asian, how does that make you feel? Angry? Frustrated? Not exactly a pleasant sentiment, is it?

So listen hard (or rather read, but “read hard” doesn’t really make sense, does it?) — just because I share the same race and religion with a bunch of backward numbnuts doesn’t make me one, so please don’t shove me into a labeled basket. Don’t be an ignorant prat. We’re all individuals and you should’ve seen past colors, races and religions. If you’re going to snub other people for segregating races and religions, then your act of pigeonholing races and religions are plainly hypocritical … and redundant.

(Also, if you’re condemning people who kick up a fuss, then you shouldn’t really be bellyaching yourself, should you?)