Why bother with these three?
I personally asked myself the above question when I started to write this post. I was not really aware of how those three things eventually come together and match. What I was aware of is that each of them came into my life separately at the beginning. First was Zwitterion, then Permeable Membrane in the second row, and finally Otaku. Zwitterion was from Chemistry, Permeable Membrane and Otaku were from videos.
Well, Zwitterion first. To make it simple, Zwitterion is an ion that is simultaneously positively and negatively charged. It has both positive charge and negative charge. Plus and minus. I do not want to explain this in a chemical context, what I would really do is to connect this definition with me personally as a human being. In Chemistry, an cation (a positively charged ion) is derived by releasing a certain amount of electrons, which are negative charges, from a particular chemical element. This is done in order to reach stability. An anion (a negatively charged ion) is derived by accepting a certain amount of electrons, which are negative charges, by a particular chemical element. This is done in order to reach stability too.
So, both actions (releasing electrons and accepting electrons) are done in order to reach stability. A better life.
Now, let us come back to Zwitterion. This kind of ion do those 2 actions simultaneously. This behavior, I think, is pretty much similar to ours as human beings. We could accept things come into our minds, and we could release things from ourselves, to push out. We are designed with an ultimately sophisticated selection capability. We know what is good and what is bad. We could select what is good for us and what is bad for us.
To reach a stability, a better life, we could do the same thing as Zwitterions. We can accept good things and push out the bad things from ourselves simultaneously. Not very easy, obviously, but the point is that WE CAN. We are pretty much like Zwitterions. That is the point.
Having said that, I think I can now be confident to say, “I am a Zwitterion.”
The next one, Permeable Membrane. I am a fan of Elizabeth Gilbert, an author of worldwide phenomenal Eat, Pray, Love novel. As a fan, what you would normally do is to collect as much information as you can about your idol, and because YouTube has so many videos, you probably could get some videos these days about your idol as well. So, that is what I did with Elizabeth Gilbert. I searched for videos that are related to her. One of them is her video interviewed in Australia by Caroline Baum as you could watch below:
If you watch the entire video cautiously and patiently, you will hear that at around 09.46 – 09.47 (You certainly could move the slider to this particular duration) she said a sentence like this, “I am the permeable membrane.” The first time I heard the sentence, it kept me thinking. What does she really mean with that?
Technically, permeable membrane allows fluids to pass or diffuse through. So what she means is quite close to the openness, of how she embraces life as it comes. It is about how she accepts things that come to life as experiences worth experienced. This “permeability” is essentially a measure of our courage in facing life as facing experiences, whether it is a good experience or a bad one. This is how I interpret what Elizabeth Gilbert means by saying she is a “permeable membrane”, and this is how I would love myself to be known as well. I want to be the same “permeable membrane”, and I think, for the most part, I have already become one.
So, I am a Permeable Membrane.
Third, Otaku. This term is originally from Japan. Otaku is a Japanese word for “nerd” in English. I heard this term for the first time on a learning English video on www.sozoexchange.com, as you could also watch below.
On the video, “Otaku” is defined as “Someone who is obsessed with a specific subject such as anime, computers, toys, etc.” It signifies that “Otaku” is an informal address for someone who is fond of something, someone who loves to do something very much. Referring to this definition, I could see that I could relate this to myself as well. I have always been in a great passion when it comes to computers. I love to talk about it. I love to use it. I am obsessed with it.
So, without further ado, and with no doubt, I am an Otaku.
I have been spending some amount of time to reconsider this, again and again, and I am very confident now and happy to say that I am a Zwitterion, I am a Permeable Membrane, I am an Otaku.
Yeah, I am a Zwitterion. I am a Permeable Membrane. I am an Otaku.
Back to the question at the top of this post, “Why bother with these three?”
Well, simply because I need to let myself be seen. Really seen. And this is how I want people to know me. As Zwitterion, Permeable Membrane, and Otaku, all at the same time.
/* Posted by Paulinus Pandiangan */
The Notes 