Counting your blessings

Do you remember the story of a man who complained he had no shoes until he saw a man with no legs? Only then did the able-bodied man appreciate what he had and stopped all his complaints!

I’ve a similar story to tell about the workplace. Many employers are unaware of the lengths that some of their staff go through just to earn a living. There was one chap who worked as a driver to a managing director in a big company in Shah Alam. However, he lived a long distance away and had to commute by public transport. Well, you know the inconveniences of public transport. What is supposed to be an eight-hour working day can stretch to 10 hours or more by the time he returned home.

So one day, this managing director decided to visit Kampung Kuantan after dark to watch their famous fireflies. All of a sudden, he came across his driver who was passing by on his motorcycle.

Only then did the executive realise the distance that his driver had to travel daily from his home to Shah Alam and back, in all sorts of weather conditions, just to drive him to work. He could not change his driver’s circumstances but from that day on, he learnt to appreciate the driver’s services more.

The moral of this story is that it is important that we should be sensitive to the people around us and see things with our heart and not only with our eyes.

These days, there are many interest groups and non-governmental organisations that seems to pop out of nowhere to comment on current issues. Often, their views are skewed and highly predictable. Public debate becomes a cacophony of noise and nothing meaningful emerges to help solve the problems.

We will never see the full picture if we have a blinkered view of life and look at things from our own perspective. We need to step back in order to move forward. That is why I feel it is important to look beyond ourselves and imagine what it is like to be in another person’s shoes. Only them can we progress with our lives and nation.

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