History
Today I went to a museum and spent some time reading about the history of this country. I liked the presentation very much, because I found it objective. Well, that is my surjective opinion though. Now I list some of my partial incoherent non-linear thoughts.
The history textbook from which I learned history condemned colonisation, deploring how people were oppressed. As a result, people revolt and broke away from the shackles. Thus new countries were gloriously born. However there are other aspects to colonisation. As the main motivation was resource and trade, the economy of the colonies generally received a boost. Also colonists brought their life style to the colonies where they took up abode. As a result, the living standard of local people in colonies probably rose. In addition, locals probably gained access to better education. Their value system might change, but breaking away from tradition might not be bad. Some cultures value tradition and hold onto practices and values even when the world has changed. Some cultures open up and change beyond recognition. I am not judging.
Revolution might not be for the purpose of independence. People could be roused by people with ulterior motive and independence happened to be a by-product. People's life might be disrupted and in exchange, they received something in the semblance of independence. (It is hard to write stuff without some assumption.) Is it generally true that one's own people treats one better? Leaning to other people is always betrayal? Even if one is first betrayed by one's own people?
People with different background have subtly different perceptions of the same word. We form a blob of concept, give it a name and make that a working definition. As one experiences more, one adds to the concept. Ideas develop, create confusion and move forward.
It is a consensus that the war crimes committed by the Japanese in WWII were horrible. Soldiers did need to vent their desire. Killing dissidents could make the defeated easier to rule. Thus the atrocities were actually not that surprising. Why was there nothing to check the base desires of people? As I watched the red spread from Japan to Korea, China, Myanmar, Malaysia and Singapore, all the while an eerie drone played in the background, a shiver went down my spine. (Not sure how much was the effect of the music and how much was that of what I had read.)
History felt fragile. The same ingredients could lead to completely different result if timing had been off a bit. I had always wanted to answer that history SOMEHOW happened in tests but didn't dare. Anyway I still got pretty bad scores in history somehow.
Thus it came to pass that I was reflecting on history at the end of 2018. I thought I would be painting. Well, it somehow happened.