Recently, and maybe not recently, but ever since I began to realise I do not exist in vacuum, and become more and more aware of the tragedies and happenings around the world, wether it is within my own country or across the borders, of the devils that exist in human form, of the injustices that are justified by people on pedestals, by how I'm protected from the news I watched, because of one thing: the place and family I was born to.
And so what does that mean? Why me? What should I do with this knowledge? What can I do to help? To support, to change, to do something, anything...what can I do?
And this job I'm doing, of polishing manuscripts till it shines so bright, it captivates and engulf the world through its' sheer existence. My daily job, where I work with fictional strands of conflicts and premises, weaved into convincing stories, food for the soul, nourishing and satisfying.
And in all of this, how is my job contributing to the whole scene that troubled me. Maybe what I'm doing is trivial, unimportant amidst displacements, poverty, and genocides. Maybe I should do something more, rather than thinking about how to bring out the emotions of a character better, or spotting the inconsistencies in a story narrative. I mean, how is all this doing anything to help improve the world?
At the same time, I know, I know what I'm doing is important. Good stories are essential. People need and crave for excellent literature. The world can not live without meaningfully crafted fictional POVs of different individual striving to live, despite all odds. Soul food.
What's missing is the bridge. What's the bridge linking what I know what I'm troubled about. How can what I know about my work help prevent and fight genocides and atrocities.
Then maybe, an answer has already formed for a long time at the back of my mind, I just needed substance and just a little bit more conviction by anything, to carve out the answer.
A few weeks ago, I picked up a book called When Hearing Becomes Listening: Prophetic Listening and How It Can Transform the World Within Us and Around us by Mikaeel Ahmed Smith at a warehouse sale at the place I worked in haha.
So this book, as I was reading the book yesterday under the sun, between lush trees and chirping birds, I stumbled on a passage I didn't expect to exist in the book. It was this:
Polls show that women, generally, read more than men and that the gender gap in reading is largest in the area of fiction. Reading or listening to a fictitious story forces a person to make some level of emotional investment in the characters in the story. As the characters navigate various situations and interact with certain people, we learn more and more about them and we get to know them. The best authors make us feel as if we deeply know the characters involved. This storytelling incident between the Prophet SAW and Aisha RA shows a willingness to not only listen to, but also to emotionally invest in the fictional characters she was describing.
The prophet SAW was so invested in the story that he was able to compare himself to these fictional character she was describing. The Prophet SAW was so invested in the story that he was able to compare himself to these fictional characters. Aisha says that after listening to the story, he said to her, "I will be to you like Abu Zar." So not only did the Prophet show us how important it is to value what those who are closest to us value, but even when the subject matter is fictional and perhaps quite trivial, he used it emotionally connect with his wife.
Something about these paragraphs struck me hard. Reading "fiction" with "the Prophet SAW" in one text feels surreal at the given time. It's like, "Oh look, the Prophet SAW respects and appreciates fiction. I found it increasingly interesting how the author used this example of the Prophet SAW listening with full attention and focus to the words of wife, through this specific example. Suddenly, my daily job of editing stories do not seem trivial. Suddenly, I feel acknowledged and maybe you can say, validated haha. The Prophet didn't stop Aisha from telling her stories, in fact he enjoyed it, and this situation was used as an example for emphatic listening.
This alone, solidified the answer that has been building up within me.
The world need good stories.
The world need powerful and emphatic authors.
The world need authors that can write to change and challenge the narrative, the world need authors who know how to deliver their point tactfully and concisely, the world need authors who can shine light and push people to really see the plight of the orphans, the refugees, the weak, the war, the wrongs.
Authors and stories and literature and woven words do not exist in vacuum. There's a whole professional team whose sole purpose is to polish and sharpen the existing words, so that it can serve its purpose as a medium to make people relate, reflect, ponder, imagine, and feel and see the world the way the never had.
Stories created empathy, stories create understanding souls, stories shifts perspectives.
And so, what I'm doing is not futile. I'll do my best to become a better editor who know when to see the forest for the trees and when to see the trees for the forest. I'll do my best to help great stories to breathe, exist and stretch its' hands throughout the world, in hopes that one day, this path I have dedicated myself to, will bear healthy fruits for a long time; creating generations of wonderful, wise, emphatic, respectful, brave, and imaginative authors, who wield their words as a weapon to protect the weak, to speak up when new bursts of genocides began to spark, who write ferociously, knowing they can change the world through their words, knowing they can heal hearts from their prose, knowing stories, literature, prose, fiction, are not futile nor trivial, but seeds to a better future.
The journey to see the trees from the seeds, that can shelter people from the cold and harsh wind, will require a lot of patience and determination, but we do what we do, and the future will unfold naturally, one day or soon.
Until then, the future where Malaysia will become a force to reckon with, through words.
Until then, I'll be here, reading, editing, reflecting, hurting from the stories around me, healing from the soothing words whispered to me, and occasionally writing, as honest as I can.
