when a tiger moves really quickly - sometimes all you can see is the stripes and nothing else. your attention is fully on the stripes. when you see the stripes long enough - one day - that's all you'll see and you'll forget about the colour underneath the stripes.
therefore, using this as a metaphor ( i'm sure you saw this coming - if you've been reading my blog ), the stripes is what you want other people to see whilst the colour underneath the stripes is the real you.
that being the case, usually, the stripes are easier on the eyes. it is less imposing. people generally would rather see the stripes. it is simpler that way. then everyone can sorta 'pretend' together and as Shakespeare puts it - life becomes one big stage and we are merely players.
sometimes people just notice the stripes 1st simply because they are the most obvious.
focusing on the stripes takes you away from having to deal with real heavy shit. after all - dealing with all that colour underneath is just a drag innit? facing it sometimes means dealing with personal issues, flaws within yourself, weaknesses - the real you.
this is not to say that everytime you focus on the colour underneath - you'd discover that you're actually this really shitty excuse of a human being - but it's an unfortunate and sad fact that when people take a real good look at themselves ie 'looking at the colour underneath' - it is normal to only see the bad stuff sometimes. and that can f**k a person up. so much so, that you forget about the good stuff.
that being said - stripes are real - stripes are also part of you. just like the tigers - the stripes are not only on the fur - it goes right down to their skin. and no one tiger has similar stripes. we all have our very own personal pattern. Tiger stripes are like human fingerprints; no two tigers have the same pattern of stripes. just don't forget about the colour underneath either.
that being said, stripes aren't always good. sometimes stripes gives a very superficial impression of a person. for instance, if guy X is always seen with a lot of beautiful / pretty women - it would be inferred that guy X is some kinda 'Player'. ( this would be reached on the assumption that guy X is not gay lah ) therefore, guy X's stripes is that he is a 'Player' and guy X may not necessarily like that. it's a superficial thing to label a guy a 'Player'. it's like labelling a girl a 'Slut' because she is seen to be changing boyfriends like she's changing underwear and the rumour is that she sleeps with all of them etc - i think a deeper look to the colour underneath would involve a question of why she is the way she seems. just like for guy X - guy X may consider himself more than the label of a 'Player'. maybe the reason he's always seen around women is that he's a nice guy who women happen to like? heck - guy X may want people to see past the stripes and realise the colour underneath the stripes.
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then again - if you find that others seem to only notice your stripes sometimes - which is something you don't like - don't worry about it. cause there isn't anything you can really do about it. people will see what they wanna see most of the time. (whenever i reach a conclusion like this one - i always think of this Shakespeare quote - which is one of my favourites but not really relevant to this particular entry but i'll share it with you anyway - 'tis better to be vile than vile esteemed When not to be receives reproach of being, And the just pleasure lost, which is so deemed Not by our feeling, but by others' seeing.)
personally, i try my best to always look at the stripes (because the stripes are just as real too - they go all the way down to your skin) as well as past them stripes to discover the colour underneath and either accept or reject the person as a whole. that goes with my whole issue with being real and shit like that.
so there.
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all this talk of tigers got me semi interested in them - i always thought they were majestic creatures.
here's some 'didja know' stuff ...:-
The tiger's head often carries the Chinese mark of wang or king on the forehead:
Tiger with wang mark on forehead - do you see it?:
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there are also mixed breeds - "tigon ie mating between a Male Tiger and a Female Lion", "liger - Male Lion and Female Tiger" and there are also mixtures of mixed breeds!: "ti-tigon - Male tiger and Female tigon" ... etc. however, all of these are quite rare.
http://www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/tigons.html
above is a 'tigon' - below is a 'liger' (i think).
tigons would exhibit characteristics of both tigers and lions - if you haven't noticed before, tigers and lions do not make the same sounds or let off the same 'roars'. well, the tigon would be able to roar both like a tiger AND a lion. neat huh?
also, tigers are more solitary and quiet as compared to lions. tigers also like to chill in water whilst lions not as solitary and definitely not as quiet PLUS they generally don't like water. but with a tigon, it's not uncommon to catch one of 'em standing - all 4 paws in water taking a dip every now and again PLUS roaring their lungs out!
don't know about you but it never occurred to me that there'd be mix breeds between tigers and lions although - now that i think about it - it's not really all that surprising innit?
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there are also such things as Were-tigers! (if a Were-wolf and a Were-tiger were(pun intended) to go at it - i think a Were-tiger would win...waddaya think?)
The Were-Tiger cult in Myanmar and it's neighbours : http://www.myanmar.gov.mm/Perspective/persp2004/3-2004/wer.htm
Were-Tiger beliefs in Myanmar and Indonesia: http://www.myanmar.com/gov/perspec/2004/5-2004/were.htm
The Nature of Were-Tigers:
http://www.myanmar.com/gov/perspec/2004/4-2004/tig.htm
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In Malaysia beliefs surrounding the Tiger shift more to fear and superstition. Myths exist claiming the existence of creatures known as 'Were-tigers'.
These are Tigers who have claimed the souls of the dead and can take on a human form to walk and even live amongst human beings. So feared are these 'were-tigers' that people dare not utter their name in case they should appear before them. Instead they are referred to as 'the striped one' or 'the gentleman'. (wonder what the Malay translation would be? The striped one = Orang belang and the gentleman = Orang budiman ?)
The Malaysian people have an old saying: "The Tiger dies but his stripes remain" ie seperti harimau meninggalkan belangnya ... i used to use this quote a lot back in the 'day' when i used to write 3 Malay essays a week to illustrate how when someone / something dies or leaves this world, the person/something leaves a mark on this world ie his 'stripes' - LOL - never thought i'd actually miss those times.
oh well - cest la vie.
signing off - the commonjack.
5 comments:
hey.. interesting post. i like =)
yea, majestic would be apt; the aura they exude when in their presence. plus their vibrant colour too.
and whoa, i didn't know they ber-interbreed one wei.. eheheh cool.
i prefer the liger to the tigon. looks funny la the tigon. like head too small for body =P hahaha
the liger's so pretty.
hmm.. i wonder whether their 'pack' (dnt know wat it's called ;p trying to remember lion king. ehhehe) wld accept them anot. or do they like break off and make their own colony. (ahahha.. i think it's colony ;p)
oh yea man, i remember during f4/f5 i had bm tuition at kampung kayu ara. one nite my teacher told us that someone was killed near by la.. and then she said that it's like a dog thingy but not quite coz the fella (the unknown) konon killed the guy in human form and then when the people started chasing him, he morphed into this .... and ran away.
hahah.. she told us not to 'bincang' about it coz like super pantang. heeheh then while waiting for my mum to come pick us up, me and my fren bincang-ed. =P
anyhow, interesting read =)
correction: not a dog-like thingy.
dia macam serigala tau.. tapi bukan serigala biasa.
;)
in3cate lions and tigers don't interbreed, they're man-made. like selembu. and tigons and ligers cannot reproduce. the penjodoh bilangan you're lookin for is a pride of lions. and the serigala was me lah, i went through the lorong there atfer school to steal somethin that day then kena chase. and diliboyo it's "harimau mati meninggalkan belang, manusia mati meninggalkan nama". and it's "c'est la vie". what a fuckin smart alec. i should slap myself. ciao
eh fuck why was i so grumpy. anyway, i'd like to say diliboyo i concede that tigons and ligers may be fertile after all. but the site you got it from also cannot confirm it. ah fuck it why we talkin about tigers and lions. WOLF, man! WOLF!
intricate,
thanks for the comment - i had fun writing this entry. :)
habit,
"seperti harimau meninggalkan belangnya" is just a variation of the full one you quoted lah. geez...so picky.
thanks for the c'est la vie though. i knew it looked kinda funny.
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