The bougainvillea is a sight of everyday Singapore, decorating overhead bridges across the island.
I always thought they were pretty flowers. But did you know the bougainvillea is a climbing vine? That means this same plant can look like this:
Or this:
Or this:
this post is not about bougainvilleas, although it is by far the prettiest post I have ever written.
it’s about hidden – and limited – potential in this country.
knowing what we’re made for
There are things you’re good at, and things you’re not.
But we don’t come into this world with an instruction manual or specs*. We have to find out for ourselves our gifts and our flaws. Or we forge and sharpen our strengths, through hard work and dedication.
How do we know who we could be? The only way I know is to try.
Trying and the pursuit of self-knowledge is thus the individual responsibility of fulfilling potential. But considering this journey starts as a baby when you have the least control/influence over your surroundings, it’s only fair to demand…
the societal responsibility to give potential its space
If you never try, you’ll never know.
But if you’re never allowed to try, you’ll never know either how you could grow.
Worst of all? If you’re regularly being pruned, cut up into shapes deemed appropriate for society and every errant branch and leaf snipped to look the way you should, rather than how you could…
…you’ll not only never know how you could grow.
You’ll start believing this is the only way to live here. You’ll be proud of how you’ve “adapted” to the realities of this manicured society. You’d have redefined potential from whatever you could be, to what you should be.
And you’ll learn to prune others down too. Some part of this is because you really believe that this is success, this is fulfilment and now that you know it, you want to help the messy plants and wildflowers learn to succeed too.
The other, quieter part of pruning others down is because it hurts. It hurts to see others bloom the way they want, the way they can because it reminds you of your scars. The potential you never reached, the heights you never climbed, the flowers you were never allowed to grow.
The oppressed becomes the oppressor. The colonised becomes the coloniser. The pruned begins to prune.
I say, let it grow.
*well, if you believe in Islam then we do. the universal qualities, purpose and potential of humans are stated by God throughout revelation and it makes all the difference vs a fully nihilistic worldview.
here are some examples of what Allah says about us, his creation:
At-Tin – Verse 4-6
لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ فِي أَحْسَنِ تَقْوِيمٍ
Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran:
Indeed, We created humans in the best form.
ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ
Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran:
But We will reduce them to the lowest of the low ˹in Hell˺,
At-Tin – Verse 6
إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ فَلَهُمْ أَجْرٌ غَيْرُ مَمْنُونٍ
Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran:
except those who believe and do good—they will have a never-ending reward.
Al-Baqarah – Verse 30
وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً قَالُوا أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَن يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ قَالَ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran:
˹Remember˺ when your Lord said to the angels, “I am going to place a successive ˹human˺ authority on earth.” They asked ˹Allah˺, “Will You place in it someone who will spread corruption there and shed blood while we glorify Your praises and proclaim Your holiness?” Allah responded, “I know what you do not know.”
Adh-Dhariyat – Verse 56
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran:
I did not create jinn and humans except to worship Me.