When we moved in our new house, the only neighbour we didn’t know much at all was the people living in the first house on our block. When they moved in, there were two BMW cars parked out front, there were lots of shoes outside the house. I joked to M that it seems a big family have just moved in. We also thought perhaps they were renters as I met the owner at the auction and it was not the same people who moved there. The family moved in are Koreans, we knew this as the young son of the family came over to our house asked about how to install gas bottle. I have to admit I was being a bit selfish and judgy, as I thought if they rent the place maybe they won’t stay long, so I did not make as much efforts in getting to know them as I have tried with the other two neighbours.
Today M told me he heard from another neighbour that a week before they moved in our block, the father of the family passed away. For some reason I felt really sad about it. Its hard to describe why I got a bit emotional about someone I did not know at all, but I just felt that I was not being fair to them. I made efforts to get to know the other neighbours but not them. I had my own opinions about them without never speaking to them. Now I know they were going through a hard time, thats probably why they were a bit hard to get to know.
I am mumbling on now. What I got out of this was a lesson to myself, I often narrate a story in my head about the things I thought I know. But often I have no idea what others are going through, what kind of day they have. Maybe I should learn not to judge others without much information at all.
I want to write this down, its not a logical piece of writing, but I want to remind myself to drop my ego and prejudice a bit. Just be a nicer person.
LIYANG'S THOUGHTS 