Welcome to the Wild, Wild East!

I was born in the East side of the globe, of course if it’s seen from the West. Since then, I have been called an Eastern who is supposed to hold Eastern cults because that’s the way I was raised and the only things known by those raising me.

What are eastern cults? Nobody can actually define them. Each person says different things, but most of them mention about secretiveness. There are a lot of things not to be said or done openly. Everyone should conceal their feelings and emotions. But until when they would do that? Like when HIV/AIDS epidemic spread, would they keep their mouth shut about sex? Or when family values gradually disappear, would they still keep from openly expressing emotions to their children?

I grew up in a golden cage because I simply never knew the harsh of the outside world. I wasn’t even equipped with the knowledge of it, that when all of a sudden I was outside the cage, I was forced to find ways to survive there all by myself. I had to find answers for everything I never knew, all by myself.

While searching for the answers, I found that the eastern cults I had always known weren’t much of a help. So I spread my wings and flew higher and on the way I kept getting new knowledge. There are a lot of cults in the world that just simply can’t be categorized into east or west. There are also a lot of things in grey area, neither merely black nor entirely white.

I’m not saying that eastern cults are bad or western cults are better. There are actually eastern cults worth carrying on, like closeness between family members or the genuine warmth of hospitality. I don’t care actually which is the East from the West, because all I do is try to cope with this crazy life in practical and logical manners. Living together before the holy matrimony, for example, is strongly opposed by the eastern values. But in a world full of failed marriages, where you are to know your partner well before saying “I do”, would that be preferably done?

I actually told my parents that I need to live together with my life partner candidate, because I wanted to make sure I could get on sharing my life with him in a long run. They, of course, didn’t agree. But it’s my life and if that’s the only way I could live it, then I have to live it. It doesn’t mean I don’t love my parents and I need them to understand that.