From My Desk: Take A Bite Out of The Humble Pie, Please

If every one who wishes to write take her or his piece seriously, I believe there would not be a problem of of slipshod or substandard quality articles.

Writing about something that is not something we are familiar with should not be taken lightly. That makes a good writer. A person who wishes to write something good would take a slice of the humble pie and dig for information. Dig, ask and read; these will help a lot in the process of writing.

A few years earlier, I came across a story; a love story to be exact; from a local writer. You know, reading is my sanctuary so I decide to shut down from the world and read something with a hot cuppa.

Except that it annoyed the hell out of me. The character, a Malay girl (this line is not a racist comment but it will support my argument later), has green eyes. I can accept that, if only one of the parents was one with such characteristics. But no, the author said the reason for the green eyes was kenan.

Kenan? Are you frigging kidding me? We are born in an era with handphones, moving pictures and what not and an author writes about kenan? Fine. I know a writer writes and science is not their forte but please do not insult anyone's intelligence with such ignorant statement. And as far as I know, a child like that is a lovechild (your choice of words is not my responsibility).

A bit of a revision, it is impossible for a child to have green eyes if both the parents both have brown eyes (as what the norm is in Malaysia. And this was what the author wrote in the book). There is a recessive gene factor (correct me if I'm wrong. My biology is a bit rusty). And usually, the child need to inheret all the blue genes from both parents to have blue eyes. But a child only needs to inherit one brown eye gene from one parent and he or she can inherit blue eye gene to have brown eyes.

Get me? No? Nevermind. The point is: do your research. Read about things that you do not understand. Find a source to get the information you need. It is always too easy to be ignorant. I know.