What gives Sri Lankan adults — especially the ones you’ve never met before and would probably never talk to again — the audacity to give you unsolicited advice about what to do with your life?
What the unfortunate recipients of such advice, such as yours truly, need to keep in mind is that opinion and counsel are two very different things. And opinion almost never matters, unless it comes from people who (a) are very close to you AND (b) have *your* best interests at heart.
These overstepping Lankan uncles and aunties almost always tout their (uninformed) opinion of you, rarely counsel.
Sifting one from the other is difficult. Harder still in conservative societies like ours where the most fatuous voice in the room easily drowns out the most sensible, given only that the former belongs to a person mature in their years.
We have a frankly asinine practice of blindly following authority, so unless you know better, you’re forced to nod along to their drivel. You know you don’t agree with them, but you’re told not to speak up because they’re an adult.
We do this not just with our parents, but relatives, teachers, any kind of elders, really. I’m going to take a guess here and say this translates to blind faith in bosses, politicians, etc. later in life. It’s unnerving to think of.