Speaking
generally, generalization is stupid. *oh the irony* It’s basically about
judging something using a past fact.
However, the
blame is not really on someone who likes to generalize, it’s the repeated information
coming toward them which make them hardly see the alternative idea. Whereas, the
beauty of things lays on its possibility to change its
current conditions. To be a "rounded character" if we use literature term.
So today I
see two policemen coming inside a food stall with cheap foods (warteg) as I ate
my breakfast. My thought then flied to the lately viral meme about a police
officer who couldn’t differentiate between no “stop” and no “parking”. It’s
almost automatically associated with that.
I was
generalizing, I knew, because not every policeman is like that. There are any good and smart police
out there. Sadly this current image of police worsen the current imagery of
policeman which have been associated with corruption and bad conducts.
But it’s
not my fault, isn’t? I see that information everywhere.
Then it
need to be said, I guess, that not all of “ibu-ibu naik motor” (the motorbike-riding
moms) is like the image constructed by our internet community. Yes I’ve been
experiencing myself the situation of you on the same lane with one of them. They are riding
motorbike dangerously, though it can actually be understood since most probably
they lack of experience.
So relax.
One day I
met this mother who bothered herself sounding her motorbike horn in getting my
attention. I thought she was my friend or something. She reminded me that my
turn signal is flashing. Thanks to her that I then turned off it.
What a caring driver, I guess, if they have the same amount of time riding motorbike
like we have.
Here is the
bottom line: generalization is the idea of seeing your life, thinking that the
current condition is permanent, while in fact we don’t really know what will
happen tomorrow.
However, that
kind of thought is a little bit dangerous as well because generalization
actually protects us from heartbreak. It makes us aware of the pattern.
I believe
every idea has a counter-idea. []