by Hoo Sze Yen

"You're in third year, right? How come you're still staying in campus?"
	Anyone from UTM meeting me for the first time is bound to ask these questions. Anyone who 
already knows me would most likely ask me the following:
	"You're staying in campus now, aren't you? What about next year? Still planning to stay in?"
	I'm not complaining. I don't mind these questions. These are perfectly normal questions that I 
would ask anyone staying in campus too. What I want to talk about, however, is the idea behind these 
questions that most people have.
	A typical conversation I usually have goes like this:

	"You're in third year, right? How come you're still staying in campus?"
	"I find it more convenient and economical." Reasons and examples to support that statement.
	"Why don't you stay out? It's so much better."
	A heated debate then ensues.

	Okay, I'm not saying that staying out is wrong and that everyone should stay in. There are 
advantages and disadvantages for both sides, so in the end it's just a matter of preference (or perhaps 
forced to. But then, that's not the issue at hand.). I have tried staying out before, but I find that I prefer 
staying in campus. Yet the only persons who seem to understand or agree with my point of view are ... 
well, basically those who are staying in by choice as well, or those who wanted to but didn't have the 
opportunity to.
	There are people who accept my opinion, but then there are those who can't seem to see the 
other side of the argument. They act like their opinions are the only ones that count, and they will rebut 
anything others have to say without actually listening. They seem to think their word is equivalent to 
God's, and to defy what they say is a sin.
	Just because your opinion differs from others doesn't mean that they are wrong and you are 
right, or vice versa. I mean, if I were to say that fruitcake is delicious but you say it isn't, who's to say 
who's wrong and who's right? Are there any guidelines, code of ethics, law, rulebook or Bible that dictates 
whose opinion counts and whose doesn't?
	Of course, there are some situations that do have a right and wrong. But in ambiguous cases 
like this, why impose your ideas on others? Why dictate others to follow what you do when they have the 
freedom to choose what they want to do?
	This isn't only limited to living places during our university years. Another example I'd like to 
illustrate is when a committee is put together to run a program. The creativity director may have an idea 
of how the decorations should be done, but the chairperson may come up with a different suggestion. 
Some people may discuss with the creativity director and come to an agreement, but some may try to 
impose their ideas on the acting director and try to force him/her to do it their way. Just because you're 
the chairperson doesn't give you the right to force others to do things your way. Why must everything 
be done your way? Are you so above human err that your way, and only your way, should be carried out?
	There's a famous saying that goes, "If two people agree on everything, one of them isn't 
necessary." I don't want to be unnecessary, and I don't appreciate any effort trying to make me so.
	If anyone tells me, "You should stay outside campus", I swear I'll ...

 
 
 
 
Hoo Sze Yen