with the hope to inspire someone to follow their dreams
and be the best that they can be!
The Child We Once Were"Cô ơi, cô bán gì đó cô?"
Hey Miss, what are you selling?
That is what my grandfather used to call out whenever he caught me playing a make-believe game of selling stuff.
It is true that I made a selling out of anything that I could get my hands on. Often, they were my sticky sweet rice breakfast, empty medicine cardboard boxes, and aloe vera succulent plant leaves (stems).
One day, I became the sticky rice lady filling up the empty stomach of my customers. Another day, I was a pharmacist working hard at the medicine counter to take care the well-being of my patients. Some other day, I sliced up aloe stems selling fresh green jello to the passersby.
That was how I enjoyed my breakfast, unknowingly advertised for my aunt's pharmacy house and mischievously shorten the stock of plants in grandfather’s herbal garden.
And when I was not playing alone, I played with my eldest sister and older brother.
We collected discarded wood blocks to put together school building completed with classrooms having tables, chairs and instructor desks.
We were the school students conversing in Elementary English. We were the school teachers giving knowledge lessons to our young. And we were the school janitors keeping the building clean and safe.
And that we had so much fun... becoming whoever we wanted to be and doing things that we truly loved and believed in.
* * *
Have Money Have Face… Is There True Happiness?People are more likely to ask or they themselves once were being asked: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
They are also the ones who judge and likely being judged by the way they dress the car or cars they drive, the job title they hold and the family from which they were born into. In the other words, "how much money does one have?" That is what happening in life.
So, a person must often choose between who she or he
wants to be and who she or he
needs to be.
Instead of recognizing one’s gifting ability, one would immediately starts to look for self-deficiencies and often gets lost trying to accommodate them as true dream and passion are setting aside.
If a deficiency is money, find a way to make a lot of it. If a deficiency is power, attain it at all costs.
Money and power are necessities of life, but they are not necessary everything in life.
Hidden behind the sugar-coating happiness and satisfaction resulting from money and power struggle, jealousy and superiority is the yearning for true happiness.
* * *
Remember Who You AreIt’s not uncommon for the elders in a Vietnamese family to set out three career goals expecting in their children and/or grandchildren to either becoming a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer.
It is not largely because of money and job security. It is more about the filial honor and duty.
In retrospect, I personally feel that it was a blessing for me not being pressured by grandfather or parents to follow a predetermined career path. Though, culturally, I have to admit that they might have actually hoped for such deep down inside.
Growing up, I was motivated to do well to have a better life. Since they were unable provide their children with monetary means for a secure future, the elders only had that to advise for the children’s sake. And it was through education, to learn with all one hundred percent of effort, to embrace challenges wholeheartedly and to be the best that one can be.
I was also taught to be humble and to not allow success to get into my head because there is always someone better. Stay competitive in good term by treating people the way that one wants to be treated. Probably the most important advice is to always remember who I am and where I come from.
Those are, perhaps, values that helped to guide my career path and to build the foundation for my work ethic.
* * *
Doing What You Love To DoI once thought about becoming an airliner’s agent working at the ticketing counter simply for job security because people always have a need to fly.
My thinking was simple then. Little I know at the time that one day services like online reservation and check-in are being offered by every major airliner.
I also thought of becoming a math teacher since studying math was what I feel comfortable in doing letting alone the fact that English is my second language and that I’m scared to death of public speaking.
By college, I made the decision to major in Computer Science, a totally unfamiliar field which I thought to give it a try. Computing was new to me and it raised my curiosity.
Back in Viet Nam, I only heard about computer from a friend who took a computer typing class outside of school. Not until I came to America and received the schooling here that I actually worked on one.
As much as I enjoyed typing classes in high school, I didn’t have a pleasant memory working on a computer initially. I once lost an entire electronic copy of my term paper over the network and had to stay after school, spending hours, retyping the whole thing all over again. But, that didn’t discourage me.
The moment I saw the line "Hello, world!" printed out on the computer screen as a result from my very first C++ programming language program, I was determined to pursue my study in computing technology.
Since, that feeling never fades. Though, it does come with a bit of frustration sometimes. Nevertheless, it is rewarded as I recall walking around campus, from one academic building to the next, helping with Network and support of computer base systems for the university staffs and faculty members in those good old college days.
As I’m now making a living out of what I have learned and continue to learn, I enjoy what I'm doing.
Sitting in front of a computer for eight or more hours a day might not seemed like a decorated working day. However, it does have the equivalent of fun and excitement like any other jobs. I’m happy of the services that I’m taking part providing, to make an impact in making someone’s job easier.~
