We were having a minor discussion in office today about 金庸的小说. The topic started out with 额娘 saying I got white hair and somehow it got evolved into 杨过 and 小龙女. It's actually a crappy conversation to pass time on a rainy and lazy Friday afternoon.

Come to think of it, the main characters in 金庸的小说 always got themselves into relationships that are not commonly accepted by the common 江湖 people.

For instance:

1) 杨过 and 小龙女: 徒弟 and 师父 relationship, not to mention 小龙女 is supposed to be much older than 杨过

2) 张无忌 and 赵敏 : 汉人 and 蒙古郡主, cuz Mongolia is always at war with China at the time, so cannot fall in love. If not, is considered traitors.

3) 张五侠 and 殷素素 (张无忌's parents) : 名门正派 vs 邪魔歪道, maciam like Christians cannot fall in love with Satanists like that lor

The majority of the so called 武林人士 cannot accept such relationships because they are considered to be against the social norm and thus deemed to be immoral and a strict no-no. In the most extreme case the star crossed lovers even have to die for their love.

This brings me to a question: Who are these people to judge what type of love is acceptable or not? In each of these cases, the lovers are either heroes or heroines, contributing to the 江湖 and not doing anyone any harm, but the 江湖 is not appreciative and even treated them as public enemies, condemning and prosecuting them, just because they happen to fall in love.

Simply because they are the majority, so they must be right? So if something is not in line with the social norm, it must be wrong, must be bad? So does that mean these main characters must be with someone that the rest of the 江湖 acknowledge and approve, so that the 'harmony' and the 'peace' of the 江湖 will not be disrupted?

How many of us can be as 潇洒 as 东邪, who dun give a shit about the 世俗礼节 which, according to him, is meant for the simpletons? Only the so called 凡夫俗子 follow rules and customs and traditions blindly without questioning the basis of these social constructs.

Although these social constructs are primarily set up to serve as a guideline for the majority, who can really say that under these social constructs, everyone will be truly happy？