I believe in knowledge. Without knowledge, you might be taking a risk without knowing it. Without knowledge, you might be making the wrong choice, just because you didn’t know.
I live in a compound where it is safe with securities everywhere. My mom always told me not to leave the compound on my own, so I always played inside the compound with the same old boring friends almost every day. If I wanted to go to the market nearby, I always had to go with my mom, holding her hand when crossing the street even when I was 10! As I was growing up and see all my friends walking on their own, but I had to say I couldn’t go with them, some kind of rage started to fill my body. Hatred and anger started going through my body every time my mom said “No.” when I asked her if I could go out on my own or even with friends from my class. I felt like I was being locked up in some old rusty jail for a year.
I felt horrible emotions about how life was unfair or how annoying my parents were, and most of all, I was upset. I often screamed into my pillow and then threw it not caring where it might hit. I felt anger toward my mom, the world and everything that stood in the way of “YES.” All of my friends who live nearby condominiums were walking on their own, alone. Why can’t I do the same? I always imagined my friends laughing and having good time going wherever they wanted to go. I always envied them and their parents, but I had it all wrong, now I know I made the right choice of listening to my mom.
My mom told me that when I am mentally older and physically big enough, she would allow me to go out of the compound only during the day time and only nearby. Then she told me a story I would never forget. She had spent most of her life living in foreign countries as an expatriate just like me, and she told me about the risks in life as an expatriate. “I was standing in front of my house waiting for my car to pick me up to go to school, but my driver was late. I waited for about 20 minutes before a strange car stopped in front of me. A driver I had never seen came out of the car and said that my driver couldn’t pick me up today, because his car had some problems, so the driver said he came instead, and then he opened the back door nicely and asked me to get in. Then my maid came out of the house when she heard the commotion outside and felt suspicious, so she whispered and told me not to get on the car until she checked the car license number with my father’s company then she went inside. A minute later, I saw my driver driving really fast toward my house and the suspicious driver quickly ran to the driver’s seat and drove off without closing the back door. My driver came out of the car quickly and asked me if I was ok. He said that two strange cars blocked his car and he couldn’t move. “
My mom never thought of dangers and risks that existed, but she was lucky that the suspicious driver wasn’t aggressive. The maid, on the other hand, had experienced burglar in the same house a few years back before my mom lived there, so she was careful. My mom told me that even now that she is older, she is very careful when she walks alone on the street. She doesn’t wear many accessories, she holds on tight to her bag, and she said she is always aware of what kind of people are around her when she is walking.
After listening to my mom’s story, I felt differently than before, now I know and I felt more fear. It is good to know the things that might happen, although I don’t think I would be staying inside the compound all my life, knowing and paying attention to things that might happen is very important. Knowing that there are dangers and risks, I know now that I need to be alert. Knowing that, I am not angry anymore and I don’t have the same feeling about going outside alone as before. This is why I believe in knowledge.
