FoxyLove

I met someone very interesting.

We were working at the booth, and he’s one of those people who runs the whole event.

After talking a little, he asked us, point-blank: What’s the first thing that’s wrong with this booth?

We threw out whatever we could think of: not enough manpower, it wasn’t in a prominent place, it wasn’t accessible enough for those who wanted to come over, it wasn’t decorated in a nice manner, etc. He admitted that yes, those were good but rather obvious points. What’s the most subtle point which is the crux of the booth?

We couldn’t figure it out of course. And he showed us: the height. Booths should normally be constructed at stomach-to-chest length, it should not be too high (above chest level) or, in our case, too low (at stomach level). Too high and you’ll have trouble filling out forms and talking to the person on the other side. Too low and you’ll also have trouble filling out forms. Not only that, you’ll have to bend down to read whatever signboards are placed on the booth. You want to read something that’s at your stomach level, how to read properly? Sure must bend down. And another crucial point: some ladies would definitely not be comfortable with having to bend down to fill in forms. What if you’re wearing a low-cut top? What if you’re wearing a short skirt? How to write? You squat down also tak glam (not glamourous).

And he told us something important: When you do anything that relates to providing service, you have to think about the customer. See it from the customer’s point of view. Often the most important things are the ones that go unnoticed. If it goes unnoticed, you’re doing it right.

Eh, what does that mean? Take the example of the height of the booth. Who the hell thinks about these kinds of things? That’s small and miniscule compared to the grand scheme of things.

BUT customer service is important. Keeping a customer happy and relaxed is important. How can someone relax if he/she’s forced to bend down to read notices on the booth, or to fill out forms?

After that he proceeded to ask us of our future plans. What do we see ourselves doing in the future? Yeah, yeah, yeah, everybody asks that.

1) What’s your plan after you graduate?

2)What do you want to do after this?

3) What do you see yourself doing in 5/10/15/200 years time?

All the same type of questions paraphrased to make it look and sound like a different question. But after that he asked us this: What would you do and where would you go if living expenses, travel, priorities, and responsibilities were not an issue? How are you positioning yourself to be poised to take that role in the [near] future?  Is there a specific company you want to join? A specific country you would want to work in? More importantly: What are you doing to make that come true?

That’s the very thing that we never quite think about, yet are so blatantly obvious that it’s glaring at us in the face. Do we consider it though? What is the big thing that you wanna do, your innermost dreams and desires, what do you wish to accomplish? And much more importantly, what have you been doing and what is your plan to accomplish such a dream? Are you sourcing out company information? Country information? Attempting to network with the right people? Trying to find the names and faces of the people who can get you through the door?

“So many people live day-to-day on a paycheque, not thinking of what they wanna do. They don’t think of what they wanna save up for, so they’re always broke at the end of the month. You gonna be like that too?”

I sometimes fall into that trap of thinking. Because it’s considered “the norm”, that way of thinking. To believe that it’s normal and even what is expected of everyone.

Maybe there is nothing wrong with it. It’s just yet another way of life.

But that’s not the kind of life I want to live.

Perhaps realism has taken hold of some of us, when we realize our responsibilities and priorities. Not all of us are lucky enough to be free from certain responsibilities to other people. Not all of us are able to put aside some time for ourselves because we need to spend that time on things that have a higher priority. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that we can’t pursue what we want. Though sometimes we need certain people to come along and reopen our eyes to that fact, because it’s so blatantly obvious that our contact lens are too blur to see it.

Hmm, where do I get myself a person like that to be my mentor?

I do feel that humans can be so superficial when it comes to worshipping God. When bad times arise, we desperately flock to him, asking, praying, begging for things to get better. And when times get better for us (as they always do), we enjoy the good times… and we do not thank him. Sometimes we forget him and do not even think of him. Yet when bad times befall us again, that’s when the vicious cycle begins and continues, as the superficiality in us seek solace in prayer yet again. It’s a vicious cycle. There will always be good times, and there will always be bad times in our lives. So when it’s smooth-sailing for us, we stop praying and we stop thinking of him. It is only when troubles hit us when we return to him to ask for our lives to be smooth-sailing yet again. We show off the flawed human side of us. We look to the skies… only when we want something.

It’s times like that when I wonder how he can still continue to accept us. To forgive us. To love us. Even eternal love, even unconditional love, even a mother’s love cannot withstand such a test. But God proves us wrong one more time. He proves that he is bigger than that, his love stronger. It is realizing how humbling that is when I wonder to look at the things I turned my back on, and maybe return to them.  I still have not reached that state to consciously pray and devote my life to God, but it helps to start with a silent thanks of appreciation, each and everyday.

Reason why I can’t bring myself to ‘devote’ myself is because I’ve always felt very condescending and questioning towards the idea that we are slaves to God. Years of African slavery has already taught us that no human should be a slave of another. What makes the idea of being enslaved to God any different? But God proves time and time  again that he deserves every bit of respect and humility from us. Because at the end of the day, at least you always have a little something to turn to, and little something that you can return to, a little something that you can put your hopes on. There will always be times when we question ourselves, question what we do, and question him for the things he puts us through. But ultimately we know that there’s always a reason: we learn from our mistakes and we learn not to repeat them. And ultimately we’ll come out stronger and see the more beautiful other side.