Have you been in an awkward situation when at the end, you decided you would pretend you were not in the scene?
Like..
You saw things that you supposed not to see.
You listened to bad things that you should not listen to.
And you would not speak any single comment about that situation.
That's what I thought about when I used these emoticons.
Do you guys know that actually, there are historical reasons behind these three monkeys?
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
They are called the 3 wise monkeys. The one covering his eyes is Mizaru (who see no evil); Kikazaru is the one covering his ears (who hear no evil) and the one covering his mouth is Iwazaru (who speaks no evil).
These images originated from Japan but, with they are simplified from the influence of Confucius who stated that:
"Look not at what is contrary to propriety; listen not to what is contrary to propriety; speak not what is contrary to propriety; make no movement which is contrary to propriety".
Propriety simply means appropriate, polite acts.
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| 3 Wise Monkeys on Barcelona's beach - Credit |
For me, it does not matter on how you interpret these emoticons as people think differently. But I just want to share with you that they are not made as emoticons for fun. There are meaningful reasons that we should know, I think?
I don't hate monkeys that much, but I don't have good memories either with them as they always steal my food during my high school. I studied in a boarding school located quite close to a zoo and surrounded by forests and hills, where you can expect a lot of monkeys around. I still remember we need to close the hostel's main door all the time and even all windows were equipped with very small grills so that monkeys will not get in.
And I'm sure you don't want to imagine what will happen when they succeed to ambush the hostel.
It. Was. Disaster.
However, to be in positive side, I believe I can learn something at least from these monkeys' emoticons.
- See no evil.
- Listen no evil.
- Speak no evil.
From these points, I think the one that we can try to control is to avoid speaking bad words. It is obvious that the things we speak about derived from what we have been trained - from what we see and listen to.
Not to see and listen to bad things are sometimes beyond our control. Benda jahat ada kat mana-mana kot. But we can changed our interpretations or reactions to those points. Restrain ourselves from spreading bad things (even though they may be correct) about others, for example. Itu mengumpat namanya.
Speak nothing but the truth.
Do you know that this is really hard to do especially when we are in a situation that may benefits one party and destroys the other one? Things become more complicated when both parties are people you know and love.
Do no evil either.
SS, Perak, Malaysia
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