Well, I can't speak for him. But the way I see it.. you know how every family has that one person who "mencari diri" atau "butuh pegangan" atau "arahan"? In my family, he's that person. Some people find purpose and jatidiri from within, some people need it.. well, handed down to them by people long dead.
What's it like for the rest of the family? Perfectly fine. Whatever makes you happy or gives you pegangan, man. My parents believed that we should choose whatever gives us peace of mind. It's our own lives to live, after all. Do I personally understand how some people find comfort in this regional/cultural myth over that regional/cultural myth? Nope. But hey.. why should anyone justify what makes them happy?
I'm sure the majority of you probably uttered some grateful phrase in arabic upon my brother choosing (not "born into", not "converted", but "chose") Islam. But if he was located in Bangladesh at the time, he could have easily chosen Hindu. And hey, we'd be fine with that too. One man's deity is another man's four-armed talking elephant.
Let me give you a bit of context. My parents where born in in the 1930s. That would make them *grandparents* for most of you. Yet, they were open minded enough to raise us without any cultural brainwashing, and let us choose to how to live our own lives.
It's easy to berkubang menggelora in our diversity and self-congratulate our liberal socmed personas for befriending those of different beliefs. Fine. But just keep that in mind fifteen years from now; when your own children prefer to subscribe to the "kasih" or "mindfulness" of some other belief system. A belief system that was not inherited and chosen by the parents, and grandparents before them. Or when your son or daughter wishes to marry someone of a different ethnicity and religion. Or perhaps of the same gender. When that day comes, remember how proud you were of posting pics of your friends of different faiths.
I mean, it's not like you were born in the 1930s, after all.
View more