When i just finish my O level and I was enjoying my first December Holiday in a long while without having to worry about any school work as I await my results. I remembered at that time I was reading the book Alchemist written by Paulo Coelho. It was given to me by my form teacher as a farewell gift. The book (which is a international best best best seller) spoke to me a lot about following my heart and my dreams in life and not just doing flowing along in the main streams of life. What it did was that it set me to thinking what I like to do, where my interests and passions are, and what my dreams are and whether I could give it a try.
Everyone had dreams of their own, and mine at that time was clear and ambitious: to be a multi-millionaire so that I can set up a charity foundation to help solve social ills like feeding the poor, etc. It a big dream, and I knew then that if the passion is real, its do-able and its workable as a life path.
During my sec 4 years, I remembered i was on a bus ride home with one of my Parry Primary school ex classmate. She was a former prefect in school and she always one who goes for good results and be excellent in academic. As we were just catching up on life, somehow the conversation leads to the importance of a person having a certificate.
Certificate, one of the 5Cs of that era , the other 4 being, car, condo, career, cash.(if i can remember correctly, is deemed as one of the most impt criteria of being a successful person. This is because, with a good certificate or education qualifications, one can land a decent job with a decent prospects that pays you a decent salary that potentially can gives you a decent, car, condo, and a decent looking bank statement. So certificate is i guess the mother of all success seemingly.
seemingly.
until i start arguing with my friend, who i never seen since that fateful day. That day i argue with the fullest of conviction that having a certificate is not important in life. not at all. whether you have certificate or not, one could still make it in life, successful or not, its really one's view point. nothing to compare.
my dear friend was distraughted and was put to disbelief by my argument, how can it be that someone on island Singapore can ever thinks that certificate is not important at all?
I did not exactly write a graduate level thesis to argue with her. but there and then, at the age of 16, i was convicted enough to know that life is not about pursuing of certificate and good results. there's certainly more.
I will always remembered this incident in my life because its just how God makes me to be, as i realized many years down the road, that having a certificate is never going to be my way of creating a security in life. yes, i guess, ppl needs a 5C in life because it makes them feel secure.
Many years later, i told my gf-turn-wife-now that i chose not to go Uni because i don't need a degree to help a needy person. yes that's right, i don't need a certificate in order to help someone. This statement alones, helps me score highly on her impression board of me. =)
And as i think back, i thought that is amusing how i become who i am today, and just thank God that i had that interestin argument with my primary school friend who i have not seen since then. I pray that she will meet God one day and spend eternity with Him.
And i just thought that God must have find it amusing and caused me to meet Him along the journey of pursuing my dreams when I land my first full time job in a social svc job.
Personally, I am not sure whether i will really be a multi millionaire and be able to start a charity foundation that can give a lot of money to bless the poor and needy to the society in any point of the future.
But what i do know that is that along the way, because of a dream and a conviction that certificate is not all there is to life, I have the opportunity to see a life that's more than chasing certificates. And in all this I praise and give glory to God for its He who makes me who I am and caused me to have a dream and to be passionate and courageous to chase after it against the mainstream of life.
What I am sharing is that for you who are young and still studying and under pressure to get that all important qualification. Well, go ahead to do your best, but don't do it because your parents, your friends expects you to. but do it because you have a dream and a passion in life, and that whatever you are learning now will help you to get to where you want to be. Do the same thing with a change of view point.
Be selfish for a moment in your life and start making decisions for your own future, from your own passion. and you find that its not a selfish decision after all.
stop chasing that certificate, chase your dreams.
And who knows, you might meet God just along the way.
2 comments:
Though we ought not to pursue certificates, we should pursue education. Knowledge empowers and equips one with skills.
Certificate though does not equate to success but does open doors and enables one to do more.
For e.g. how can a doctor practise medicine to help others if there's no doc certificate?
Having said that, end of the day it depends one's dreams and conviction and the best possible means or resources to see it to fruition. I'm encouraged that you know what you want... And thanks for recommending The ALchemist to me. It has changed my life too =)
Post a Comment