- management@smallchangesmy.org
Truthly, me
by Aina Alyssa binti Sazali
It’s strange how it took me sixteen years to dissect what the word ‘unity’ truly meant. I used to think that having a family gathering or being a part of a group of friends meant we were united.
Perhaps even eating the same lunch together or watching a movie during the cold nights with our fuzzy furry blankets shared meant that we were in perfect harmony and unity. It wasn’t until a few years back I realised that life, as cliché as it sounds, is indeed not all sunshine and rainbows. When one becomes too comfortable in their surroundings, one begins to turn a blind eye towards what’s happening in their daily lives, as was the situation for me. Being a child who grew up reading countless books of adventure and magic, where the hero seemingly always unites friends and foe together to defeat a common enemy, it became increasingly clear as I progressed through my teenage years that it’s almost impossible to do the same in real life.
In truth, I began to resent the people around me as I peeked through their true colours. I asked myself questions as to why people couldn’t just agree on one thing and co-exist with one another regardless of their race, religion, gender or even nationality. I began to wonder why was it so hard to lay down their weapons and negotiate with each other until a truce could be formed. It wasn’t until I realised that that was possibly the most deranged question I’ve ever asked in my whole life because, it seems I too, was a part of the problem. Why was I so caught up in trying to find the perfect self in everybody else and trying to get them to unite when the irony was written in broad daylight so clearly?
"Unity isn’t about perfect harmony—it’s about coming together, despite our differences, and finding strength in what divides us as much as in what connects us."
The truth is, ladies and gentlemen, unity is not being able to comprise and form truces with one another every single second of the day with problems upon problems in this 21st century. It is impossible for anyone of us to agree on everything. With seven billion people and growing on this planet, there should be as to no surprise that each of us will contain different opinions and thoughts. Unity is not something that will always be there, it’s something that we have to achieve every time a high or difficult road comes along. There should be neither prejudice nor discrimination when listening to one another, because when it comes down to even the tiniest problem about which popcorn kernel will pop first, each one of us will choose differently. And that is completely okay.
Unity to me, is being able to eat the same lunch together but each having their own preferences as to what they will eat and what they will leave behind on that same plate. Unity means being together, at the same time being able to agree and disagree. It means us, as human beings and god’s finest creations together individually.
– This piece won 1st Place under Category B – Non-Fiction for the Small Changes’ Writing Competition
