My Unique Agong
Mr. I-don’t-care.
That was what other people called my my Agong, my dear grandpa.
Perhaps you will wonder why my Agong was called a weird name. However, for me, this unique personality of Agong is one of the reasons why I loved him so much, and he seemed influenced me a lot. The story with Agong began with a naughty little girl.
Story with Agong should begin with a naughty little girl.
Yes, the girl is me. When I was little no one in my family could conquer my hot temper and rebellion. There was only one guy who wanted to play with me, is my Agong. As a consequence, I clung to my grandpa. In my memory, Agong always took part in my childhood until I started to go to school. Because of him, I had a vibrant and dynamic childhood without homework, cram by which my sense development would probably be impeded
Agong seemed to be a “don’t care” person.
One remarkable example of his special personality was that he didn’t care about friendly manners when he didn’t want to talk.
Grandpa was a little bit isolated, he didn’t like to talk to strangers, chat with neighbors or even say something about himself to others. Small talk or chatting were not his things. He would suddenly be quiet and just smile when a private conversation began. Anyone who wanted to chat with him were on his blacklist. He didn’t seem to be really keen on talking. But interestingly, if you opened a knowledge- or experience-based conversation, he was willing to talk to you, and could talk A LOT. Moreover, sometime he even couldn’t stop.
At this moment, the enjoyment sparkled in his darker, wider eyes but shiny like a galaxy fulfilled with stars. I always enjoyed myself to adventure into navigation with my imaginary boat on his laughter lines in his stories. The excitement of the adventures spreaded liked seeds and planted in my mind until I grew up to remind me being a storyteller for my life.
Another example of what he didn’t care about the was education. In his mind, school education didn’t matter, but self-education from nature was more important than other things. Nature was the best teacher for a child.
Therefore, in most of the time no matter where we went, he could always find a nature-related thing to share with me. For instance, being a proficient weather forecaster by identifying different kind cloud forms was an interesting thing; by moistness on the wall, he could identify how old the building was. Moreover, not only by his observation, but by his practical operation of learning was key point in education.
For example, Agong was a magician who made anything I wanted.
Once I was keen on being a female Robin and wanted a bow and arrows. When Agong knew my desire, he didn’t promise me at first but asked me to cut some bamboo in neighbor’s backyard with him. Then on the next day when I woke up, surprisingly there was a bamboo-made bow laid on my table with a note written, “if you want a arrow, come to backyard and make by yourself.”
Learning from nature and getting things by yourself was what Agong wanted to teach me at that time.
When I grew up, I realized that his “don’t care” actions were reflected by his psychological circumstances which were uncomfortable to surroundings. His traits allowed him to get involved in the situation he actually dissatisfied with.
So, in my opinion, frankly, Agong cared about everything, but just tried to use other way to show it. Therefore, when I recalled memories staying with him, he was using his own way to share his world and his love to me.
I miss you so much, Agong.
