Signature For A Cause

I was enjoying my dinner while engrossed in Level 350 of Candy Crush Saga this evening, when a woman walked up to me, seeking my signature for a petition document. I couldn't quite make out what she was saying, but I saw the word LYNAS on the piece of paper she was holding. I have of course heard of that word LYNAS many times before, but I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't have a sound knowledge of what it's really about. I just know that it's something that many people are convinced may be harmful in the long run, but I don't know the scientific explanation of it. I suspect that the majority of those who're against it don't really know why they're against it anyway. Someone said it's bad; and so it must be bad, the truth of it regardless!

Incidentally, just a week or two ago, I received a text message from a close friend, asking me to vote for a beauty pageant contestant from Sabah in the hope that she could win the contest eventually and then represent Malaysia. But, you see, as a matter of principle, a beauty pageant is about who is the most beautiful of 'em all. Well, OK, I suppose there's some credit for brains too. To vote for this Sabahan lass just because she's a Sabahan, or because she's a friend of a friend, isn't really about being beautiful or intelligent. What's more, I didn't even know who were the other contestants—apparently from west Malaysia—I would be voting against. If the other contestants were indeed more beautiful and intelligent than our Sabahan representative, is it fair that they lose because they failed to accumulate the highest number of votes?

I have in fact posted an article a few years ago when our Sipadan Island was nominated for "7 Wonders of Nature", as can be found here. Now this may be surprising to some of you, but I haven't been to Sipadan myself! I'm sure it's a beautiful island based on what I've heard from many people, but I did not see it with my own eyes. Moreover, I couldn't bring myself to vote for Sipadan against the other nominated places because what if those other places were more deserving of the title?

This reminds me of a time some years ago when I was walking the Gaya Street Fair one fine Sunday morning. There was a group of people conducting a signature drive to petition a court verdict that found someone guilty of the crime he was accused of. I saw many people signed the petition document because "a signature doesn't really cost anything anyway". But I did not sign. I'm thinking; I did not even know anything about that accused person; absolutely zero knowledge of the case, and for all I know he might have been guilty as charged! I couldn't bear the thought of freeing the accused, however remote that possibility was, on account of my signature which was foolishly given without knowing anything about the case.

Many people would readily sign petition documents or vote for a cause for the sake of making the numbers, but don't really know what they're signing or voting for. As you have probably guessed by now, I did not sign that petition document this evening. Not that I think my signature has a profound effect on the total number of signatures they're gonna get anyway. 

But the good news is that, after at least 50 tries, I finally conquered Level 350 of Candy Crush Saga! So those of you who've received a Candy Crush request from me, send me a ticket please!