The reluctant senior
by ddreamer
Summer break is coming to an end and new faces are flowering in Melbourne. The smiles of excitement are easily identified, looking forward to start their university life oversea far from home. Fear also present from being far from the family, the people that the used to be with back home. Some may put more deep thought in it, for whom before this have heard lots of bad things happening in oversea that affected one’s personality, principle and even religious belief.
Some saw this an opportunity to break away from the usual boring and maybe ‘oppressive’ life back at home. Total freedom that they yearn for has finally comes for their taking. But little they know that freedom comes with a price which one might finally realise at one point of their life or worst lost in that total freedom that they will enjoy.
As for me, I don’t usually get myself involve with the new students. In fact i’m never good in even getting along with new people that i’ve met. Few have been closed but mostly became back to stranger. But I guess this year would be different from previous years. Since this is my supposedly final year, why not give it a chance. Getting used with the huge age differences is quite a challenge and quite new to me. Back in the college days and schooling days the maximum junior age difference i’ve encountered is 3 years. Now people start calling me ‘abang’ eventhough i’m insisting on calling just by my name. 4 to 5 years age difference is huge which i now realised its been quite a while i’m here in Melbourne.
Being senior is a problem because they look up to you. Since they’re pretty much new here and far from their usual surrounding, it makes them vulnerable and a little bit clingy at times. So knowing people coming from the same place and being senior in age is always a tool to maybe build whatever based for them to set of from, if you know what i mean. They listen to you, they look at every details of your doing; what you eat, drink and read, and what you say is somehow treated just like a holy scripture that should be taken seriously in living afar. All of the datas, they analise then take as how they should live their life here.
Some seniors might used this tool to mould the juniors to subscribe their worldviews and ideologies. Telling them to do this and this, not that and that. Not to be friend with him and her and so on. They impose some kind of authority upon them, thus just producing the same ‘human template’ as their seniors with not much of a variety in attitude, thinking and view. I don’t agree with this kind of style.
I’m might not be the ideal senior to look up to, but i try to accommodate them. I try to inform the very basic guide living in melbourne; the halal places, mosque and university, plus some bookstore and coffee shop. I always tell them to go explore life, to get oneself lost and try to find one way back, to make mistakes and learn from it. To not confine thought to just one view and explore different kind of views. To engage more with different kind of people and learn from their life story. At the same time find good people to live with and to keep in contact with. 4 years is short and do make used of it to the fullest. Being in overseas is not solely for pursuing academic excellency, but the more important is to study ‘life’. To be a human being. A good human being.
