សម្ដី សជាតិ មារយាទសពូជ

-សម្ដី សជាតិ មារយាទសពូជ-

This simple proverb could spin our ideology hard! Ones may ask as to why we need to make this simple and  literal meaning of this word more difficult..? “It means what it says..!” or Does it..?  

Here is my take on this. I’d like to, first, define a couple of things before going into this any deeper!! 

សម្ដី – is a noun that is easily confused with  ភាសា. But it is not the same. Here is how it differs. សម្ដី is a collective strain of thoughts, feelings, emotions and perceptions internally formed and delivered utilizing a common means that is known by others – a Common Language or dialect = ភាសា .  We may have the same language, but may not have the same សម្ដី .  

ស – used here is a transitive verb meaning “ To Reflect”, “To cast an image of”  

ជាតិ – A Sovereign Nation.

“Literal Definition” is being omitted here because “It means what it says”. However, the profound meaning of it is what making this proverb an ever-lasting piece of moral education worthy to spend a few minutes digesting its meaning.

Cambodia is giving us birth, culture, traditions, history and language, and ultimately, she gives us our identity – Cambodian! 

As one of her children, I’d like to try to make an analysis on what our “predecessors meant”  by placing an emphasis on three essential principles as I understand it as follows: 

“Political - Cultural – and Religious” Values.

“សម្ដី” comprises of a description of thoughts, feelings, emotions and perceptions delivered by words. It could be containing substantive elements that could produce good and bad consequences dependent upon which contents of the សម្ដី are being expressed. Hence, it could impact us as an individual, us as a society, and us as a nation, with one outcome or another!

From “Religious” perspective, as a Cambodian, an Ideal Sam Dei would be those that are embracing our religious values.  From “Cultural” perspective, however, the Sam Dei shall reflect our behaviors, arts, beliefs, institutions, and thoughts of the establishing traits that our forefathers had set forth for us.  “Political” Sam Dei, on the other hand, should promote and encompass any principle values that would not jeopardize our nation security, harm social well-being of our citizens, or compromize our nation teritorial integrity, Or, it could adversely impact everyone and everything within our geographical society.  

PROVERB is defined as a “short pithy saying in frequent and widespread use that expresses a basic truth or practical precept”. 

Our nation once was a majestic beauty and splendor – Ankor Era. Through times, our forefathers must have been witnessing a series of calamitous consequences in our nation’s history  due to ill-spoken Sam Dei, prompting an implantation of a vital message for all of us, Cambodians, to easily grasp the meaning of it through a simple term which today we call it “Proverb” to avoid being inflicted by the same calamity that they  had already been living through and were the witnesses of!  

“What was the Intended foresights, and what was the embedded Idealism” that our forefathers  trying  to plant in us? 

1) “If history is a guidance, the proverb “Sam Dei Sar Cheat” is a living testament, serving us as both a Painful Remider and a Fore-warning. 

2) To seed Patriotism in us.    “Religious, Cultural and Political” values are the core principles that reflect our prestigious identity that our motherland has given us.

Cambodia rooted on many layers of Social classes designed to distinguish one social group from another. Because for many thousands of years, Cambodia has been ruled by kings whose form of address, spoken or written words, is hell-different from our common people. And we have those of the urban folks, the rural, the educated and the non-educated folks, the financialy rich folks and the unfortunate, and so on. All these social groups, one way or another, have their own designated forms of address that would be easily identifiable  once used or spoken, thus, revealing a certain class of people.  

Cambodian Culture, first, is being seeded in us by no others than our own parents. When we were a little child, if we can still remember, our first word being tought could have been (ប៉ា ឬម៉ាក់) if you’re born into an urban family. “ពុក ឬម៉ែ” if you’re a child of a “Rural/Farmer’s” Family. “ព្រះបីតា ព្រះមាតា” if you’re a royal child, and so forth.   In addition to wording being passed on to the children, our parents would naturally instill their social values in us, and would safegard them as if they were their own lives. Because us -- their offspring(s), matter most to them and their social integrity/social class. “សម្ដីសជាតិ មារយាទសពូជ” - the Proverb is born! 

Our Social Classes had not just given birth to this proverb, but mirrored actual practices among them as well as evidenced by some modern literary genre represented by novels as in (កុលាបប៉ៃលិន, សូផាត ម៉ានយ៉ាន, ផ្កាស្រពោន) ជាដើម where one class of individual crossed a divisive social boundary into another by the magnetic force of love, thereby, a discriminant barrier ensued.

Regardless of what the social class in which we are born, or who our parents are, they are very protective of theirs.

Wording matters. As our old saying goes, there is a number of other similar proverbs propagated into our Cambodian society where “Social Classes” still play a discriminatory role even in today’s Cambodia. “Silence is better than verbalization”, (ត្រីកំភ្លាញស្លាប់ព្រោះមាត់) and so forth, are just a few of those examples.

Why does it matter?  Being who we are is the most dignified and graceful status for which we shall always cherish. Uniqueness comes from individuality differences.

If we could not raise our family status to a higher and more honorable extent than what had or has been established, it’s wise not to degrade it. Words would reflect the contents of our self-being! Our deportments would negatively or favorably imply toward our familial traits!

B Boy

August 18, 2009