by Justin Teoh
After coming back from college to Malaysia for the summer holiday, I feel a bittersweet tinge in seeing friends all around, whom I have not seen since high school, pursuing their respective transitional stages in life. It reminded me of how one of my professors in college told us about an interesting word he had learnt from a book: sonder. From The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, quote:
“… [the] realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own…an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.”
The sun continues to radiate between the growing skyscrapers of our aspirations and potentials; we are exhilarated by the infinity and the bustle of it all, but the sun illuminates as much as it discloses, the latter being more of a slow-burn than the self-evident former. As the people we know strive to get back into full speed, there is an inclination to compare life pre- and post-COVID, of what used to work and what didn’t now, of who stays and who doesn’t, of current interests from previous growth. The list goes on and thus grows the inclination to compare, but soon enough we realize that it hurts more to leave things behind (or to think about being left) while everything escalates in a quick, dizzying blur.
I’ve recently read Haruki Murakami’s Kafka On The Shore and its message of acknowledging the raw power of inner feelings to propel forward (the specifics of which that interpretation was brought about I will not spoil here), and I find that it coincides well with this issue’s theme. While we need to process our dissatisfactions, it is equally important that we not ignore them altogether. There is consolation in validating the honest effort to overcome them, but even more so in gathering the resolve to not get bogged down, and that comes with taking one more step at a time. The past few months have involved school examinations and the literal re-examination of personal priorities across the board, which was collectively why Getting It Strait took a break for March and April.
So it’s time that we allow ourselves the chance to set these resentments down. We have partitioned the May/June issue with three befitting artworks. In the first part, we respond with analyses and lived experiences about the dire situation in the United States. The second part vividly deals with the trials and tribulations of growing up, societal perceptions, and our core beings in the face of change. For the third, we shift our focus towards the big screen and give our takes on timely issues made evident by media.
Certain things in life may seem to be alienating or come in overwhelming barrages. We can feel that we are the only sensible person in the room in one second and the opposite in another. But what will always remain unwavered are the takeaways that we keep inside. We hope that you treasure yours and thrive in your own version of meaning, in your own sonder.