Stepping Up...

In life, one has to be brave to face any forms of challenges. I know some prefer to play safe and try their best to be in a safe zone. In my case, life is not always the way it is expected. Sometimes life kills me but up until today, I am still standing straight and I am proud to be able to withstand the toughest time of life.

People would not believe that I once was pretty poor. I accept the fact that I was born in a small and poor family. Life was somewhat different those days. I simply had no expectations whatsoever in life. I thought my life would just end up in my little town where everything seems to be simple and slow. Every time I had a chance to tell my beloved students about how life can be changed if one dares to accept the fact and dares to accept challenges without having scared of what consequences would be like. Life itself is already a risk. There’s nothing one can do. Nothing…

When I look back at the time when I was a freshman in my college, a little tear would fall down without my acknowledgement. I know, people may not be able to feel how bad the situation is but to sigh… There was once I used to spend my evenings collecting 5 cents coins in front of Giant Supermarket in Section 17, Shah Alam. I would wander about like a vulture, scrutinizing every corner of the parking lot, just to collect as much as I could for my breakfast or perhaps lunch too. There’s nothing to be ashamed off. I didn’t steal. I collected them.

When I was a lot younger, both of my parents had to work hard but the money was never enough. It was not because we lavishly spent but because of the salary was too little to live by. My dad earned RM15 per day! And, my mom had to make curry puffs to be sold in our village. I understood the hardship that they both had gone through. There were times too, when we had nothing to eat but rice. My mom would make porridge and I ate it with a dash of sugar as a flavor. At weekends, my dad and I would go to a jungle to catch some quails and sometimes we fished. We caught a few and those were our food for the whole week.

Sometimes, I just feel that, life is just a phase and I believe in myself. I never expected my parents to understand simply because they too were difficult at that time. I did not want to burden their life. We survived. I made it. Though I am not a rich man now but I have enough food to eat and pretty decent clothes to wear. I always believe in myself.

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going…