The Easy Way Out – WF Article

“You start with what you know, and what you know is you.”

– Marc Nair

IDENTITY.

It is a very cliched topic to discuss, yet there is always more to discover when it comes to who you are and who you can be. Writer’s Fortnight of 2018 at UWC East Singapore brought about more ideas about identity, how trends shape this, what we students are capable of as individuals and the importance of proving that.

Poet, Marc Nair, covered this subject quite in depth during his talk in relation to his life’s work. Artist, Christina Lau, shared some shifts in her ideas of identity after being paralysed after a car accident — a catalyst to her journey in becoming an inspiration to others. Author, Mukul Deva, shared his secrets to success in business and writing thrillers. Despite barely mentioning his views on the concept of identity, his demeanor and what he shared about himself during his presentation showed a connection to one of Marc Nair’s strongest points of interest — “meme-ification” versus authenticity.

“Meme-ification” is the word the Singaporean poet used to describe a photo spot that may have once been unique, but then its popularity rises to a point where it becomes almost iconic, like a meme. This calls forth the matter of trends, and its significance to everyone’s day-to-day lives. What is a trend, anyway? What makes something trendy and who decides?

Marc Nair provided another example, of different writer. Once a writer creates a remarkable piece that becomes recognised, the style, concept or craft is taken as a foundation for other writers’ pieces. Repeatedly overused and eventually considered ‘mediocre’. Fundamentally, an idea that was once original becomes ‘meme-ified’ because of its popularity.

SO, HOW CAN THIS BE FURTHER APPLIED TO IDENTITY?

We involve ourselves in the lives of celebrities in society because we admire how they act, dress, look. These people are famous and popular, encouraging society (especially young people) to imitate them. This has always been an issue, predominantly in the present where young people are constantly exposed to personalities that are not always positive role models. Yet we copy because this is deemed as ‘trendy’ by friends, or more significantly, social media.

“Trends are an easy way out,” states Marc Nair. An easy way to avoid being judged, by assessing ourselves before committing an action that presents a chance for criticism. Remaining in this cycle of copying each other because if everyone is acting the same, isn’t there less possibility for disapproval? The first quote I used to introduce this piece refers to what Nair claims to use as inspiration from his poems — his own identity. He displays the theme of identity and authenticity throughout many of his poems: “The DIY poem” where he gives character to a sock and talks about needing an instruction manual to write a poem. Using ourselves as inspiration, we know our own opinions and emotions better than anybody else, but being meme-ified causes us to lose ourselves.

There are prominent idols we may admire because they speak up, or just seem like an ‘authentic’ individual, for example. And as an Indian author, Mukul Deva proved this to be the case. The audience found him very entertaining, showing honesty when admitting he was “in it for the money”, when writing his books. Though, many students still favoured him above the other speakers despite having a very ‘un-UWC’ motivation. I feel his experience in the military and ability to immerse himself in a wide range of personalities for his books allowed him to see that being someone else won’t get him anywhere. Is it possible we admire this because, unlike him, we don’t have the courage to be genuinely ourselves?

Some people are ‘forced’ to be different because of unfortunate circumstances. Nonetheless, often only seeming to be unfavourable at first light of the situation. An example would be Christina Lau, now a mouth-painter, something she never considered prior her accident. Reflecting on how much she said she was able to grow in character, and how she was able to accept and adapt to the fact that she was unlike everyone else. We develop an understanding that this journey she followed not only helped her learn about herself, but also provided her with a chance to teach that it should always be acceptable to be different, no one should have the power to convince anyone else otherwise. Lau says to “prove yourself you are capable of doing,” and that “you can be everything you can [be], if you want.” She shows this by involving herself in sport, something she loved prior to the accident, but felt was unable to do because of her disability. It is essential to recognise that the only person who needs to be proved of capability, is ourselves as individuals.

TO BE THE CHANGE

We admire changemakers but all we do is merely wish we can come close to becoming them. Howbeit, UWC helps cultivate and encourage building confidence to evolve their community into people who will make differences in the world. Mukul Deva showed that little changes in a character can affect how the whole book proceeds, the same way making the right difference in the world, no matter how small, can have a big impact.

Similarities may bring us together, but differences demand us to work together.

The sooner we utilise that, the better it will be for the future of our society. We learn from Christina Lau, that it’s about making sure the trends and the people around you, don’t shape who you want to be, or who you could be. It is so much simpler just to be ourselves, but our ‘meme-fied’ society has caused us to lose who we really are. As Marc Nair says, it does start with ourselves, and by “spending more time finding our own voices”, we can use them to “speak up, out, into” the hearts of our community.