Change of view point

These past 2 weeks or so has been really great. I enjoyed every moment of it. I've started my part time work as a reading teacher at a kindy. I spent around 3 hours each morning with the children, making sure they read a book daily and sometimes I'll be on duty to 'watch' over them during their play time. Spending time with them has indeed brought joy and laughter into my daily life. Children are pure in heart and simple in thoughts. One can learn a lot from them.

Anyway, besides my work, I've decided to quit my attempt in going into the financial planning industry. My uncle who happens to be the one who recruited me in the beginning, and that has been constantly keeping tracks on my progress as a recruit agent, motivating and encouraging me in this line. I was quite interested at that time as it is quite a fast money making industry. However as i move on with it, under the guidance of my uncle, i realised that i can't agree with a few of his way of dealing with issues and also his own belief which clashed with mine, eventhough others may think that it's not such a big deal.

The thing is, this time, during our last meeting, he asked again what actually interests me? What gets me? What attracts me? What do i want to do in the future as a career? Don't i want to have my own business? To earn lotsa $$$? To be able to afford this and that? To buy own house and car within 5 years? So on and so forth. 1 month ago, I would have been in quite an enthusiastic mood and said yes that's what i wanted. I mean most of us students now, what do we want in the future? Why are we studying so hard? What are we pursuing? Some even take up certain degrees because they will be able to have a higher pay with that kind of education. Most of us are all striving hard in order to lift up our standards of living. In other words, we students are studying now with a future career in mind. As in what do i want to be or do? What do i want to pursue? Is that the job that i'll want to be in for the rest of my life? Can that career path be a good enough investment for my future? To sustain my expenses in life?

What do we actually want out of life? Now is definitely our studies, education. Then? Maybe pursuing a higher degree, ie masters or doctorate degrees? And then? Stepping into working life? The beginning of adulthood? To get our first paycheck? Spend it? Save it? With that comes a car? House? Properties? Investment? Shopping? Luxuries? Then perhaps it's time for marriage? Kids?

Indeed all these are what we are suppose to do, as this is the cycle of life. But may i pose you a question. What do you want to accomplish in your life? What do you actually wanna do for the rest of your life that will bring fulfillment, meaning and satisfaction into your life?

I guess these questions is sort of self discovery. We will all go through this at one time or another in our life journey. And when this is posed to me, i suddenly discovered that money, fame, luxuries no longer bring any meaning to me. Indeed sometimes i do have an interest in them, but no longer the passion to pursue these. Our lives on earth are indeed so short. For me, i prefer to start knowing what i want now and to put it into action rather than after 30-40 years did i realise i have not done anything that i really wanna do.

As i look into the lives of people around me. I found that if we could just sit back, relax and look around for a while, we can learn a lot from them. I was wondering, if there's a life that has no worries, anxieties, chaos, would you like to have that? To live everyday to your best knowing that you have not wasted any of your time or energy?

Well, it seems that i have side-tracked. What i wanted to say is through working in the kindy. I found that everyone has their own place. A good kindy teacher might not be able to do what another is doing and vice versa, her pay might not be as high as others, she might not be recognised in the society as much as one, but the significance of job is the same. [This applies to any other jobs] In this world, we tend to measure achievement by $$, status, popularity, education or talent. But if we would just allow ourselves to be in the shoes of others, everyone is the same. There's no one who can be said as better than another. Our different gifts and abilities are needed to form this community, society, country and ultimately this world. If we are able to see that we need one another as a body, everyone as equal, loving and cherishing one another for who they are, our world will indeed be a much better place to live in. Nevertheless, i guess this will remain as a utopia.