People Are Interesting

People are interesting. The title speaks for itself. The way we perceive society’s so-called ‘norms’ is already interesting by itself. When you stop to think for a minute and absorb your surroundings, you start to see what people are really made of. How people take things for granted and become what they think they are but not realising what they’re truly becoming.

As an Australian-born Chinese (ABC) with Malaysian parents, life was all about being diligent and studying hard. Good grades were and ARE very important in an Asian family, especially when you want to do well in the future. However, I wasn’t too bright when I was young. I used to get C’s in math and science. I even had to go to my school’s speech pathologist because I had problems with my speech (apparently I used to stutter a bit back in year 2). Teachers used to think I had a problem with my shoulder moving up and down (truth was my singlet kept slipping all the time). People thought of me as a dumb, moronic Asian who didn’t know or understand shit. My parents spent hundreds of dollars bringing me to several tutors, but I was too dumb.

A time came when I was in high school and I still got C’s in math. But, people are interesting. We have phases. It’s like puberty — some go through a Taylor Swift-like childhood, but once they flourish as an adult, they become a totally new and different person. For me, it was intelligence. My new tutor taught me how to study better and it felt like the old school way of learning how to study diligently. As my tutor was from Taiwan, he had a different study mentality than your usual tutor. His aim was for me to achieve what I wanted. I wanted to strive for the best and try my hardest to get the best mark I could achieve. He did it successfully and my marks flourished from year 9 onwards.

But, you’re wondering what my life story has to do with people being interesting. Well, there’s only one thing I can say. All the people I’ve met in my life, including my parents, are all interesting people. It’s even interesting to me that I even had a stage where I changed both physically and mentally. Everyone is different for a reason because everyone is their own self. We are all unique for a reason. Cast away all the genetics crap (despite its importance) and think about it. We are different because we’re ourselves. But, are we truly ourselves? Has society shaped us into a completely different person?

Society today has shaped us into a completely different person. Sometimes I wonder, am I myself? We need to look in the mirror more often and look at ourselves. A great way to start is by asking yourself, “Am I really me?” If I do something wrong, I look in the mirror and ask, “What have you done wrong this time? How much shit have you caused this time?” It may make me sound like a psychotic freak having that inner voice speaking in my head, but it may be the only way to truly see if you are actually you. There are plenty of distractions around us that we don’t even have the time to just stop and reflect on life. This is what changes people. Hence why it’s interesting to see what people turn into. Someone you’ve known for years, who used to be such a kind soul, turned into completely different person. Someone who you’ve never seen before during those years of friendship. It’s interesting to see what they turn into.

Observation is an important feature we should adhere to. If we learn to observe (of course not in a seductive/creepy manner), we can actually see what people and society has become. I’ve learnt how to take time to reflect and observe my surroundings. I am very grateful and thankful that some of my high school programs had moments where you could simply sit down, relax and contemplate on life. One of these programs was a 1 month camp in year 9 when we experienced life camping with the snakes, cooking with the crickets (that jumped into a mate’s hot chocolate one night), and experiencing the true definition of self reflection and tranquility. I learnt how to relax and simply observe my surroundings. If you take time to observe, you can actually learn a thing or two about people.

As humans, we tend to have a lot of thoughts in our minds. Work at 7 a.m., uni at 9 a.m., heaps of thoughts running through our minds. Maybe a lady dressed in business attire is going on a plane straight after work to see her daughter on the other side of the planet after a long week of work. What if that guy you saw with a torn shirt and nice pants had won the lottery, but tried to keep it subtle by purchasing good pants for starters? The amazing thing about thoughts is that our brains produce at least 50,000 thoughts per day (National Science Foundation). If you take time to simply relax and observe, you’ll come to a stage where your worrying thoughts will come to a halt and the process of observation starts. You learn a lot just by observing. It may or may not be entirely accurate but at least you can let your imagination run wild. Not too wild I hope. Sometimes I try to imagine what it’s like to be in someone else’s shoes. That way I can rest my mind from the stressful thoughts and just focus on my surroundings.

People are interesting. Sometimes you observe and wonder what it’s like to be in their shoes. I do wonder at times if they’re going through a tough time or they’re happy to finish work for the day. I usually think to myself if observing is the right thing to do. Sometimes I wonder, if I had the power to read minds, would this be enhanced? But of course, you’d get a mind full of thoughts as well as surrounding thoughts. You really can’t handle that pressure. The point I’m trying to make is that we as a striving society should take some time to relax and observe. Observe your surroundings one day and see what you can find. This is when you can say what I always say to my friends, “people are interesting”. Personalities also make people interesting. But, that’s another story waiting to be told.