October 20th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Beer Talk
I had beer with a friend on Thursday night. I learned a lot from the chat we had. I find her a very motivated person despite many short comings.
I got to know her when we were merely teens and she was my sister’s schoolmate. We became close after she was briefly studying in TAR College and I took her under my wings.
She still remembers – I once chided her for being so timid that she needed my sister to accompany her to the ATM machine to make her first cash withdrawal.
My sis said to her, “You know! My sister said you are so useless! Go take money at ATM machine also don’t know how and need people to accompany! Chin Boh Eong!*”
*Chin boh eong means, useless in Hokkien.
She said, my three hokkien words etched in her heart for a very long time but in a good way.
Instead of thinking “Gina is a dumb f*ck bitch!!!” She contemplated on what I’ve said to her and thought to herself, “Am I really THAT useless? What can I do about it to improve?”
Indeed. Now, she is a proud owner of two successful beauty parlors.
Another friend shared with me some wise words from Dr Stephen R. Covey.
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our happiness.
The space between what happens to us and our response, our freedom to choose that response and the impact it can have upon our lives, beautifully illustrate that we can become a product of our decisions, not our conditions.
We have the power to choose our response to our circumstances. We have the power to shape our circumstances; indeed, we have the responsibility, and if we ignore this space, this freedom, this responsibility, the essence of our life and our legacy could be frustrated.”
I am glad she chose every right step arising from the three Hokkien words to be where she is now. (An almost negligible factor! I am sure there are other factors as well!)
I am not taking any credits in playing any role in her success. After all, her success is all her own doing through hard work and sheer determination. I saw her transformation over the years; from a timid school girl to a successful businesswoman she is now. And yet, she remains humble and there is not a bone of arrogance in her.
Her tough exterior does not dilute her compassion. That is why she asked me to blog about this sanctuary for abandoned children with special needs in Cheras – Pusat Penjagaan Kanak-Kanak Cacat Taman Megah. She recently went there and her eyes welled with tears to see the good children in the shelter. She ended up donating some generous amount to the shelter.
She spoke to me with such conviction that I felt some tugging in my heart string for the kids in this shelter. She said, the place has many donors but most of them donated rice and other groceries. What they need is cash to build a proper place to house the children with special needs and also to pay for some medicine and medical appliances. She particularly has this place close to her heart. She spoke of a baby girl suffering from Hydrocephalus (an abnormally large head due to accumulation of fluid). Her head grew bigger by the day.
Her parents found this birth defect on their baby a lot too late to terminate pregnancy. Since birth, the baby was sent to this shelter. Her mom would visit once in a blue moon. Her dad would only send the mom to the shelter and waited in the car and never came down to see his own flesh and blood. The baby passed on not long ago. Let’s hope that her soul would rest in peace. The saddest thing of being born in this world, is to be born into a family without love. I sincerely hope the shelter has provided the best care in order to make her short life worth living.
A quick check on the internet, there are many good bloggers who had blogged about this place. I do hope they would bring more donation and aid to this shelter.
I am sure there are many other charity homes in need of our assistance. I think we ought to play some part to build a caring society.
How to get there? How to donate? For further information, please click here.
I think this is probably the most meaningful conversation I ever had over alcohol.