♥ iN aNaKaPaI's EyEs ♥

Reading this, it triggers memories...

of childhood memories...
One of my earliest memories when i was just a toddler, was of the elders warning me against wandering on my own (at that time, Dad served as headmaster in a rural school in Kapit). or playing 'perang-perang' (war games) with my cousins and friends.

"you would get caught by the komunis (communists)! Then they'll take you into the jungle"

we would look at them with large, fearful eyes whenever they regale us with tales and experiences during the emergency era. How they feared going into the jungle, the curfews. It has a rather adventorous notion to it and we often tried to imagine how we would've fared had we been there. We imagined that we would be the heroes, defeating the enemy with our superpowers. Ah, the imaginations of a child!

Then there were the movie "Peristiwa Bukit Kepong" (what child born circa late 1970-80's haven't seen it?), it shows the valiant defence of the soldiers and their wives in defending their camp. Then it was the age where all the boys want to be soldiers, girls want to be nurses, while yours truly wants to be an academician (talk about being a maverick). Then, as we grew out of childish games, we started to take the plight and fights of these heroes for granted. They became a mere part of our childhood memories. Only to occassionally resurface when we study history in school.

of the present times...

As I grew older, I began to regard some of the men in uniforms as jocks. People who thinks too highly of themselves just because they are in uniform. In uni, those views are reinforced by the behavior and attitudes of some ROTU kids that I've seen. Then there were an incident where a man in uniform blasted my father (it was a few years back) for his traffic mistake (hey, everyone made mistakes and this was during emergency) in a very high and mighty manner. I was only stopped by my family's pleas for me just to ignore it. I was really tempted and prepared to retaliate with my own acerbic and sarcastic answers, but decided to do the civil thing by calmly writing his name and number instead. Then the officer (must be a sergeant or something), noticing me noting his name and number, quickly ended his tirade and left. Hmmmpphhh...

Don't get me wrong, I do like and value the service of our heroes (some of my family members are men of the uniform). But there are some who tarnishes the image of the uniform with their attitude and behavior. Some were even involved in substance abuse. And these few, they are responsible for marring the image of the force. Clean up the act of the people, and maybe, small people like me may even like them...

And Datuk Seri, I haven't forgotten.