Broken Telephone

I am sure most of us had played this game in our school days. And I am quite sure that those who played the game enjoyed it tremendously. I remembered having a good laugh over how distorted the message had become. A simple message of four to five words can be grotesquely changed to something so different.

As I grow older, I realised how real this game is - how a simple message can get misunderstood, misconstrued as malicious even though there was no intent by the original communicator. The meaning of messages get changed when the receiver adds on his/her opinions, perceptions and personal experiences and it get passed on to another person who will, in turn, add on whatever he/she feels right. And when this happens in real life, the effect is no longer a laughing matter.

I saw ties severed just because of this. I saw distrust and unduly suspicion emerged. I saw alliances formed – outwitting one another. It was unfortunate that I had to witness siblings squabble just over some miscommunication that could have been easily resolved by just talking things out. And the saddest thing was it just started with a remark made by one of them - over the care of an elderly parent.

Maybe as a third party, I am able to see the bigger picture. Maybe because I am not emotionally involved in the whole situation, I could see that there was actually nothing to it. It was just a case of a broken telephone.

And the problem can be resolved easily. Bring everyone together and announce the message for everyone to hear – loud and clear. But people being people are too complex to do simple things such as this.

They would rather talk among their alliances, have their own opinions and ideas of what was happening – assuming, guessing and making fools out of themselves. But they do not know or maybe, do not wish to know because they think that they are right. They preferred to talk behind people back rather than come out front to clear the air.

I have seen this before and I am seeing it again, unfortunately. I saw once a group of siblings who formed alliances and were constantly suspicious of one another until one of them passed away. And what was left was only major regret. I saw they cried their eyes out when it happened but what good did it do when you had made enemies out of your own siblings, who were once your playmate, your friend, your constant companion?

It is funny when I see these siblings who tend to be nicer, more accommodating and more receptive to people not related to them. But to their own siblings, they tend to be more calculative and more demanding.

I have always believed that blood will always be thicker than water so I can never understand why some people will let a broken telephone comes in between their own flesh and blood.

For the moment, I just want to be an audience to this whole life drama with an ending that only Allah knows. And I hope and pray that they will just resolve the whole matter by fixing that broken telephone.