Just do it

It is easy to say, “Just do it!” However, we need to do the right thing. But sometimes, even though you think you are doing the right thing, some people might disagree or discourage or suspect you. That might trigger your emotion and thought. Let’s take one of my experiences:

I used to go hiking short distances; it was one of my activities in Penang on weekends. Sometimes, if I saw a plastic bag on the trail side, I would pick it up and it became a trash bag. As I was walking down the hill, I would pick up others trash along the trail. Usually I had about two or three trash bags with me by the time I reached a trash bin at the grounds area. Once, I saw some rubbish along the trail side close to a rest hut. I was picking it up as a group of people going down the trail passed by. One guy said to me in Hokkien, “You are from MPPP (short form of Penang City Council, but here people are kidding that you are a street cleaner) huh.” I sensed his teasing and I felt a little unhappy, so I didn’t respond to him. One of them said to him, “Don’t say things like that to people.” They left and I continued to pick up rubbish. It was just two or three minutes later, when a lady was going up the trail. She passed by me, and said to me in English, “You are great.” I was smiling in response to her. She was going, and I was continuing to pick up rubbish. As I was going down, if I saw rubbish along the trail I picked it up too. Someone saw I was holding the bags and picking up rubbish and asked me, “What do you do with the trash?” I responded, “Put it in the bin at the grounds area.”

I simply just did a thing, but I heard many voices…. And my emotions and responses changed.

“做就對了！” 這句話說得容易，但卻是要做對的事。有時你即使覺得你做了對的事，也會有人不讚同或嘲諷或懷疑你，舉個我自己的例子﹕

我曾在檳城某處的短程爬山，那時是列常的休閒活動之一，我下山時若看到有膠袋棄丟在山路旁，我就拾那膠袋把它當垃圾袋，一路回程就拾起路旁的垃圾，到山腳下的垃圾桶時，我手提著的已是兩、三個裝滿垃圾的袋。有一次，在靠近山路途的一休息站附近有不少的垃圾，我在拾起著，一群人走過要下山去，一位男性用福建話對着我說，“你是MPPP（檳城市政局簡稱，但這里是取笑你為清潔工人）的人啊。” 我感受到他的揶揄，我有點不高興也不去理會回應他，他身邊的另一人說他，“不要這麼說人啦。” 他們繼續走了，我繼續拾垃圾。就過了两、三分鐘，有一位女性走上山來了，經過看到我，用英語對着我說，“You are great（你很棒）！” 我微笑回應她。她繼續走了，我繼續拾垃圾。然後我一路走下山看到垃圾就拾，有一人看到我手提垃圾袋拾拉圾，問我說，“你將垃圾拿去那里？” 我回應說，“丟進山腳下的垃圾桶。”

我簡單只是做一件事，竟會听到很多聲音，我的情緒也跟着變換應對。