ada satu perkara yang aku tidak gemari dalam dunia ini iaitu ular..selain bentuknya yang agak menjengkelkan, ia amat bahaya kerana mengandungi bisa yang boleh membunuh manusia tidak sampai beberapa minit..Dalam mana-mana masyarakat sama ada timur atau barat sering mengangkat ular sebagai satu analogi atau peribahasa..dan tidak perlu diberitahu, bahawa dengan jelasnya ular merujuk kepada perkara yang lebih negatif berbanding positif..tetapi dalam masyarakat melayu terdapat juga peribahasa seperti ular yang menyusur akar, tiada hilang bisanya...ia membawa maksud orang besar yang merendahkan diri tidak akan jatuh martabatnya...
peribahasa atau analogi sebegini lebih bersifat positif kerana apa guna kita berlagak sombong sedangkan ilmu di dada tidak cukup lagi..samalah juga jika kita berguru..bila ilmu sudah tinggi sedikit janganlah mendabik dada hinggakan langit ke tujuh mahu dilangkah..tetapi analogi dan peribahasa yang melibatkan ular dalam masyarakat melayu kebanyakannya bersifat negatif..misalannya..ular bercampur dengan belut idak akan hilang bisanya bermaksud orang yang jahat jika bergaul dengan orang yang baik-baik tidak akan hilang tabiat hasad dan jahatnya..satu lagi yang biasa disebut orang ialah ular berlingkar digulungan tikar yang bermaksud orang jahat yang menyamarkan diri dalam kumpulan orang baik-baik atau lebih tepat lagi dinamakan sebagai munafikin dalam bahasa arab...
semasa di Adelaide dulu, Sis Daljit selalu merujuk orang yang suka membawa mulut atau menuduh orang lain di belakang sebagai snake.."she/he such a snake, you know!"..macam tu laa lebih kurang...dalam cerita Harry Potter: The Chamber of Secret watak ular digunakan sebagai makhluk perosak yang jahat dan cuba memusnahkan Hogwart sebagai Institusi Pendidikan Magis yang terkenal...kesimpulannya di sini janganlah kita menjadi ular atau duduk di bawah bayangan seekor ular yang kemudiannya akan membelit leher kita atau mematuk sehingga mati tidak bernyawa lagi...
bagi sesiapa yang pernah menonton filem animasi Pocahontas yang amat popular pada lewat 90 an dulu mesti teringat dengan lagunya yang popular "Color of the Winds"..dalam bait-bait lirik yang dinyanyikan oleh Vanessa Williams ada menyebut:
You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You learn things you never knewYou never knew
begitulah adat manusia..kalau kita hendak menuntut sesuatu ilmu kita hendaklah yakin dan berpegang kepada satu persoalan logik atau tidak logik? dan persoalan ini hanya terhad kepada ilmu-ilmu manusiawi sahaja...dan satu lagi bait lirik yang amat berguna untuk renungan ialah:
How high does the sycamore grow
If you cut it down, then you'll never know
janganlah kita cepat melatah hanya kerana penampilan pertama seseorang yang baru kita kenali itu nampak lemah...pendek kata, itu hanyalah satu ujian untuk menguji sama ada kita benar-benar ikhlas atau tidak...siapa tahu? Datuk Kame watak utama dalam siri komik kanak-kanak terkenal Mutiara Naga atau Dragon Balls sering berkata kepada Son Goku bahawa di luar sana sentiasa ada manusia yang lebih hebat...itu bukan bermakna bahawa Son Goku tidak hebat tapi keikhlasan menuntut ilmu dan merendah diri itu adalah entiti penting dalam menguasai ilmu pengetahuan...begitu juga dalam satu dialog menarik antara Matt Damon (Will Hunting) dan Robin Williams (Sean Maguire) dan filem Good Will Hunting (1997)
Sean: I thought about what you said to me the other day, about my painting.
Will: Yeah?
Sean: Stayed up half the night thinking about it. Something occurred to me...I fell into a deep peaceful sleep, and haven't thought about you since. Do you know what occurred to me?
Will: No.
Sean: You're just a kid, you don't have the faintest idea what you're talkin' about.
Will: Why thank you.
Sean: It's all right. You've never been out of Boston.
Will: Nope.
Sean: So if I asked you about art, you'd probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life's work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I'll bet you can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You've never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that. If I ask you about women, you'd probably give me a syllabus about your personal favorites. You may have even been laid a few times. But you can't tell me what it feels like to wake up next to a woman and feel truly happy. You're a tough kid. And I'd ask you about war, you'd probably throw
Shakespeare at me, right, "once more unto the breach dear friends." But you've never been near one. You've never held your best friend's head in your lap, watch him gasp his last breath looking to you for help. I ask you about love, you'd probably quote me a sonnet. But you've never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable— known someone that could level you with her eyes. Feeling like God put an angel on Earth just for you. That could rescue you from the depths of hell. And you wouldn't know what it’s like to be her angel. To have that love for her, be there for forever. Through anything, through cancer. And you wouldn't know about sleeping sitting up in a hospital room for two months holding her hand, because the doctors could see in your eyes that the term 'visiting hours' don't apply to you. You don’t know about real loss, because that only occurs when you love something more than you love yourself. I doubt you've ever dared to love anybody that much. I look at you— I don't see an intelligent, confident man. I see a cocky, scared-shitless kid. But you're a genius Will, no one denies that. No one could possibly understand the depths of you. But you presume to know everything about me, because you saw a painting of mine, and you ripped my fuckin' life apart. You're an orphan right?"
[Will nods]
Sean: You think I know the first thing about how hard your life's been, how you feel, who you are, because I read
Oliver Twist? Does that encapsulate you? Personally... I don't give a shit about all that, because you know what, I can't learn anything from you, I can't read in some fuckin' book. Unless you want to talk about you, who you are. Then I'm fascinated. I'm in. But you don't want to do that do you sport? You're terrified of what you might say. Your move, chief.
So, your move, chief..!!