lables

i was chatting to someone online last night.  he was Malaysian and within the first few minutes of the chat, he wanted to know if i was malay, chinese, indian or eurasian.  next, he wanted to know what i do for a living.

when asked why he was so caught up with lables, he said something about the government doing it too.  when asked what the government's interest in labling others had to do with the chat at hand, he kept saying the goverment was doing it (it made absolutely NO logical sense to me and so, i politely bid him good night (and good riddance!) and went offline).

that chat only reminded me why i shy away from chatting to fellow malaysians online.  i think they are too hung up on the lables and miss the whole point that there is a real person behind all the lables. 

me, i'm not bothered about lables.  i'm more interested in the person i am chatting to.  i guess, last night's experience only explains why i like chatting to europeans --- they aren't likely to ask me to lable myself.

what are you when stripped of the lables that you associate with yourselves??? think of it... what will you be without the lables that you hang on to so tightly?