Thursday, September 26, 2019

In the end, what counts....

“Come to think of it, finally, it’s only friendship that matters.”  - the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew to Robert Kuok when they met in 2007/8.   - If i remember quote correctly.  Do let me know if I had misquoted.  


Recently, I was told something a trainer shared with his participants, or rather bragged to them.  He was telling them how much money he made during his younger days and how he decided to move to a 'bungalow in the sky' (apartment) instead of staying in their landed property.

Throughout the session, he only made a fleeting mention about his late parents - that his only regret was not having told them that he was rich.

It got me thinking - perhaps that was his way of expressing himself - to each his own I guess.

What has this got to do with the quote at the start ?

I think we should encourage people to share about the relationships that have changed or influenced their lives.  Especially for those of us who are in our middle age.  Our society has made quantitative measure of success such a standard, we do not seemed to be able to move away from talking about what we own, now or before.  Talking of relationships or people are also awkward for most.

Perhaps that is the reason, we see very high hits of video clips or quotes online that help us express this part of us.

I thought it would be meaningful as we close the year to recollect some of these relationships in my life.

Many of you would have read my posts regarding my parents and siblings - they count for a lot in my life - particularly the past couple of decades.  Not when I was younger though - we had our youthful distractions and the growing pangs and pains so we also had our difficult phases together.

I am however, grateful these did not become internalised to a point where being in the same space was difficult too (like those in the movies).  We mellowed and became closer as we overcame challenges together.

From my parents, I learnt perseverance and sticking together through thick and thin.  They married for over 58 years and saw so many trials and tribulations that would have resulted in them going their separate ways many times over.  But they stuck it out.  We were the better for it.

From them I also learnt to cook and enjoy home cooked meals.  They always made sure we had warm food on the table no matter how far out we went to play in the neighbourhood.  Like clockwork, the dishes were always placed nicely on our kitchen table for us.

Both of them taught us the simple virtue of hard work.  We are not rich by any measure today, but we know that what we have, we earned it.  To rip what we sow - thats Mum's mantra to us when we all started work.

Hope this post offers something to think about the people closest and dearest to you. 


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