Dare to dream !

I was watching ASTRO AEC the other day. It was quite an interesting programme which I came across by accident (no football, no interesting documentaries, no interesting AXN series……what else can i watch?). The programme invited local entrepreneurs to share their life experiences – how did they end up being successful, how much hard work, how was their childhood, etc.

In that episode, they interviewed the owner of Sinma (the company which produces and sells accessories for ladies). The topic which interests me was about his childhood.

Below is the things which I could remember…..hopefully there’s no mistakes

He came from a poor family background. During his childhood time, his mum has to raise 6 kids in the family and as one of the elder siblings (or the eldest, forgot), he has to work in order to ease the burden on his mum. He did all kids of part time jobs ranging from selling ice cream to selling beans. He worked hard, juggling few jobs at a time. In the end, his hard work did pay off. He became an assistant chef in a coffee shop aka kopitiam at the age of 10, when other kids at his age were busy flying kites or playing marbles.

But an accident happened. While he was cooking, the fire was too strong that it burned his face and hands. The next day, he resumed work. He said that unlike the people nowadays where they can just stop work after catching a cold…..he has to work even with his severely burnt hands. And he started to wonder why he has to work so hard, why can’t he play around like his peers? Well, he was only 10 years old….and i wasn’t surprised at all if a 10 years old started asking those questions.

He confronted his mum and said why is his life so tough. His mum cried and gave him a very very serious scolding. She asked him why didn’t he think on her behalf? Did he think a mum, raising 6 kids in a family, is an easy feat? Yet she has never complain that life is tough, not even once. Because she feels that there are a lot of poorer people out there….a lot of less fortunate people as well. She believed that if they worked hard enough and never complained that life’s tough, they would become successful in the end.

Since then, he never complained.

And that was very heartwarming for me. How many times have we forget that we’re actually very fortunate in this world? We weren’t born in Kenya or Congo or some African nations where kids die of hunger. We weren’t born in countries ruined by endless wars. We weren’t born with physical disabilities (and some less fortunate people are actually much stronger than normal people in terms of mentality).

Yet some of us, complain that life is tough. Is working hard = tough life? What about those jobless people? Is not able to buy that posh car = tough life? What about those who need to walk to where they want to go? Is not able to go to Maldives for honeymoon = tough life? What about those who have never boarded a plane before and could only see them from below?

We can complain about our stressful lifestyle….our incapabilities to get things we wanted……etc etc etc. But we should never complain that life is tough. Because it’s not.

At least, that’s what I feel.