My friends who are into MLM and direct sales, would always ask me the killer question, "What is your dream?". Well, its a killer question for me, because I could only answer "to do what I enjoy doing.", and most of the time, they don't take that as a valid answer. Most of them goes like, "I would want to be able to buy a BMW 5-series.", or "I would want to have enough money to start a business of the field that I enjoy" etc...
A one day trip to Pulau Ketam, made me ask myself the question, "if I ask the people in Pulau Ketam, what is their dream, what would be their answer?". Which is certainly an interesting one, maybe its just as simple as to have a biggest house there, or maybe just to have a happy family.
Dreams, seems to be directly influenced by the environment, if you have never seen something, you would never have dreamed of having it as your dream. And, if you see dreams as goals in your life, wouldn't it mean that people who have seen less, dream less, making their dreams/goals easier to achieve, and make them more satisfied with what they currently have?
The rape cases in Malaysia, happened at at alarming rate of 3 females being raped each day. Yet I have some female friends, who still drives home alone after 10pm at night. When I told them about the high risk of being a victim, they will give excuses that they have to finish their work before they go home, saying "its not that I want to stay late you know...".
A good question to ask, is what will make you go home earlier? Seems that having a statistic of 3 females bring raped a day is not enough. Is having a colleague of yours being raped enough to make you? Or do you need a close friend or a close family member of you being raped to make you?
The important thing is not the answer to the question, but the realization of such questions.
Probably most of you have read this before, but this article rings in my heart very loudly every time I read it. It made me realize that I have went through a lot of things, simply because I taken the steps to walk through the door in the first place.
I have this friend who is not particular charming, and is single. Sometimes, I advise him to have a good haircut, wear some nice clothes, and be a gentleman. But he will tell me, "If the girl does not like my current look, she won't like me". And I usually will remind him of the salty coffee story, where the small things that brings two people together, to have a chance of advancing their relationships, might not even matter in the end, because of the amount of experience that both of them have went through, at the end of the day.
Enjoy.
He met her on a party. She was so outstanding, many guys chasing after her, while he was so normal, nobody paid attention to him. At the end of the party, he invited her to have coffee with him, she was surprised, but due to being polite, she promised. They sat in a nice coffee shop, he was too nervous to say anything, she felt uncomfortable, she thought, please,let me go home.. suddenly he asked the waiter: would you please give me some salt? I'd like to put it in my coffee."
Everybody stared at him, so strange! His face turned red, but, still, he put the salt in his coffee and drank it. She asked him curiously, why you have this hobby?
He replied: "when I was a little boy, I was living near the sea, I liked playing in the sea, I could feel the taste of the sea , just like the taste of the salty coffee. Now every time I have the salty coffee, I always think of my childhood, think of my hometown, I miss my hometown so much, I miss my parents who are still living there".
While saying that tears filled his eyes. She was deeply touched. That's his true feeling, from the bottom of his heart. A man who can tell out his homesickness, he must be a man who loves home, cares about home,has responsibility of home.. Then she also started to speak, spoke about her faraway hometown, her childhood, her family. That was a really nice talk, also a beautiful beginning of their story. They continued to date.
She found that actually he was a man who meets all her demands; he had tolerance, was kind hearted, warm, careful. He was such a good person but she almost missed him! Thanks to his salty coffee!Then the story was just like every beautiful love story, the princess married to the prince, then they were living the happy life... And, every time she made coffee for him, she put some salt in the coffee, as she knew that's the way he liked it.
After 40 years, he passed away, left her a letter which said:
"My dearest, please forgive me, forgive my whole life lie. This was the only lie I said to you---the salty coffee. Remember the first time we dated? I was so nervous at that time, actually I wanted some sugar, but I said salt It was hard for me to change so I just went ahead. I never thought that could be the start of our communication! I tried to tell you the truth many times in my life, but I was too afraid to do that, as I have promised not to lie to you for anything.. Now I'm dying, I afraid of nothing so I wanna tell you the truth: I don't like the salty coffee, what a strange bad taste.. But I have had the salty coffee for my whole life! Since I don't wanna miss U, I never feel sorry for anything I do for you. Having you with me is my biggest happiness for my whole life. If I can live for the second time, still want to know you and have you for my whole life. Even though I have to drink the salty coffee again ,I don't mind taking that for you".
Her tears made the letter totally wet. Someday, someone asked her: what's the taste of salty coffee? It's sweet. She replied.
Sometimes, we became so much of an arrogant idiot, that we failed to respect others for who they are, what they do, and where they thing they are heading. Respect others, they are not inferior, just different.
If you are a Christian, stop thinking that non-Christians are doomed because they are not. Respect their choice, they are just on a different way.
If you are a BSD zealot, stop thinking that Windows and Linux are for idiots. Respect their choice, they are just using something different.
If you are a jazz musician, stop thinking that pop fans are inferior, they just enjoy the simpler expression of music.
If you are into Rich Dad/Poor Dad, and had sorted out your millions making plan for the coming 10-20 years, stop thinking that people who are working their ass off and do not have a plan are stupid, they are just on a different way.
Respect.