Viewing the world from a different viewpoint

Imagine you met an Alien that just wanted to come down to say hi. He (or she) wanted to know what the Earth was like in as few words as possible. Describe it in your own words, and what you like about Earth. What would you say? The answer would be different depending on the person. Gamers would talk about the virtual world of the internet. Academics would talk about the world of knowledge (I'd rather talk about this than the latter despite my tendency to play games). But I soon realised that the world from the eyes of the poor is much more different than from the eyes of the rich. 

In Indonesia, I had a very nice maid named 'Supin'. She was an amazing cook (although unhealthy) and was a simple woman. Her world was much smaller than mine. She never travelled outside of Indonesia, and her world was a scary one, filled with deception and family drama. Family members would cheat each other for money, many committed adultery while the spouse was at work and some even seduced others for the sake of money. Strangely enough it had nothing to do with money for food: it was all about money to buy the things they want. As a result my house became her world. She never wanted to leave, and she would spend a lot of time pottering around the house doing the small things in exchange for the feeling of a home... and a wage of course. 

My Singaporean maid is something much different. She is far from simple, and I must say very misguided. She goes by the name 'Lynn' and she lives in a world far more naive than mine. She lives on the internet. She has every social media from Facebook to Telegram, Whatsapp or Oovoo. You name it! She enjoys internet dating (something that I will never truly understand) and meeting new people. Being a social media animal, she often receives news articles through Facebook which is highly biased and as a result her interpretation of the world is biased. Her lack of education about internet safety have also led her to believing every thing she reads, and how she thinks the world is so stupid for acting in such a way.

For me, there are two worlds: the world of technology and the physical world, the latter being much bigger. I go home after school and log straight on, whether it's to do homework, socialise or watch a video. Because of my presence of the internet I see people online as people different from the physical world. We are all netizens, and in the world down here we are all defined by our passports, ICs and driving licenses. I live in a world of study pressure, and the fear of losing the financial stability that we have in the future. Worries about loneliness in the future and worries of exams coming up. For now, my world is all about worries, and games do help me forget about that, albeit for just a short time. 

Each and every one of us has a different way to view the world and the universe that we live in. How about you?

Cheers,

Matthew Tan