People and Great Deeds

As long as I can remember, I have always enjoyed listening to or reading the stories of People and Great Deeds. As a child, I remember reading the story of Gautama Buddha, a rich Indian prince who grew up in an environment free from suffering and poverty. He soon realized that these were found just over the wall of the palace that he was confined to and he became curious of life beyond the wall. The story continues that he crossed the barrier and exposed himself to a life quite different from the rich and abundant life that he was exposed to and saw a life that was filled with misery and human suffering. The rest became history as he sought to find 'Nirvana' or Enlightenment and left behind his teachings of life that has impacted the world. I read of the contributions of many other men such as Johnny Appleseed, a lesser known pioneer of the American frontier who planted appleseeds wherever he went so that others could enjoy the fruits and shade that the apple trees could provide. Of the American frontier I read of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and many others who contributed to the growth of a nation that would become a world super power. In the Asian continents, I would be touched by Mohandas Gandhi and his passive resistance methodology of challenging the Great Britain to obtain India's independence with the least violence. In the field of Science, I would read about Marie Curie and her discoveries of radium or the ideas and inventions of Galileo Galilei or Thomas Alva Edison.

In the final year of my University life, I came to know of another man and his great deeds whose name is Joseph Smith. He helped me to appreciate the founder of the Christian faith, Jesus Christ. I had read little about Jesus when I was young as maybe he was presented more as a God than a human being and therefore was not categorized as an ordinary man in the books I was reading. As my parents were not religious nor my older siblings, I wasn't exposed much to religious books about Jesus. However through the man Joseph Smith, many things about Jesus and the Christian faith were clarified for me. Interestingly, a series of events not only led me to join the Church but also to become one of the pioneer missionaries to spread the faith in Malaysia. (Refer to Spiritlane) The life of Jesus indeed has become a strong influence in my life for good.

There are indeed many in the list of people and great deeds that touches my heart and mind. As I grew up in life, I could see many around me who are great examples to me of people with great deeds too. They do not necessarily have to be famous in the annals of history but their acts of devotion, passion for truth and a desire to serve others with the talents they are endowed with greatly touches my heart. Some are close family members and friends. I have noted that these Men can come from any race, color or creed irrespective of any religious or non religious backgrounds. The combined influence of the famous and less famous people and great deeds has always spurred me to do my part in society and this some times required me to leave my own position of comfort to follow the desires of my heart and mind.

Events or a series of them can have a strong influence in affecting the heart and mind of a man and I have found that such has been the case in my life. That could be the reason why I have become very detailed in recording events either through writing or photography, ever since I was young. I got married early at the age of 24 which started a series of events that led me to become a (C)ommunicative father, a (S)ynergistic worker and a (F)uturistic professional.

My Father and his Great Deeds

It has been said that it is easier to become a father than to be one. I can testify to that and if you live long enough as a father, like I have and also my father, you will learn that it takes a lot of effort and consistency to achive great deeds. No father is perfect I'm sure but I have often thought about the famous People and their Great Deeds. Achieving their great deeds must have had some sacrifice on their role as a father. It takes more than just a balancing trick to be able to serve mankind and become a good father. Maybe that could be the reason why in the annals of history, not much is said about their roles as a father, if they had ever become one themselves.

I am grateful for my own father and on the day after Father's day, I sat down at his office with a reminiscing feeling. I related to him my recent incident of being assaulted by workers of a local bus operator and showed him a newspaper article it. He is now 87 years old and still goes to his office everyday. I reminded him that about 25 years ago, on the same desk that he sat which is the smaller office that he now occupies, was the desk he assigned to me to help me start off my small consulting and IT business. I reminded him that as my Father, I had always consulted with him on my career moves or changes. It was he who influenced me to become an Accountant but from there I have since made many changes. To my surprise, my father suddenly made a very true comment about me. He referred to my office door that is now on the same 7th floor of the same building as his office and remarked, "You're the only one on the whole floor that never locks the grill door of your office and that's how different you are! "

I smiled and it was at this point in time that I told him of my new move for the second half century of my life! I explained that since he is enjoying a long life, I believed that with his genes and my current good health at age 50, I may live for another fifty years. With that assumption, I held up my left hand with five fingers opened to symbolize my life up to this date. A full 50 years of doing what I felt was an opportunity to learn all about life with hands on experience. It has led me to now write my journals under the classification of Body Mind and Spirit. What then will the next hand symbolize?

My Past and Future Deeds

A series of events in life can sometimes be seen as coincidences or messages from beyond that help to shape our destiny. It is interesting that these events or coincidences can some times be influenced by our very own thoughts and hence the proverb, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he".( Refer to Proverbs 23:7 and also the book of James Allen inspired by the verse.) As I told my father, my first 50 years was really a life of learning and testing. I grew up with a curious mind and a heart that seeks to connect to people and things around me and even beyond. I developed a unique optimal view of life that keeps me sufficiently motivated in all the things I do or chose to do. I told my father with the usual style of great enthusiasm, holding up my right hand, I want the next fifty years of my life to be quite different from that of the first. In retrospection, I guess what I meant was in the past I was very busy doing many things in the learning curve. I went through academic life in my adlolescence be it science, maths or the arts. Then as I was about to turn into a real Man at 21, I received the priesthood and an inspired call to serve as a voluntary missionary in my own native land. When that was over, I started another mission where I became a husband and a father of a great family of 6 children. To become an effective provider for the family, I turned to the business world and became an entrepreneur and a consultant in the fore front of 'sunrise' or cutting edge technological businesses as my preference.

In mid-2003, I gathered some staff, a family member and friends to join me in a focused research on 'Optimal Performance and Thinking'. I was seeking to synergize my vast experience with the latest research in human development & performance to find 'breakthrough' solutions for our modern day challenges. I would first share that with my family members. Later it will be shared with everyone else in the private and public sectors of our country, eventually reaching out to global communities.The ultimate aim is an educational contribution towards improving the quality of life in communities for purely humanitarian reasons. This web page series of 'My Heart and Mind' is the early beginning of my work based on the focused research that has been going on for over 4 years now.

The unfortunate recent incident that occured to me has inspired me to hasten my work to reach out to the community. It had woken me to the fact that the citizens in the city that I lived, as with many other cities in the world, are facing unprecendented challenges due to the rapid changes that is occuring in the world. How do you manage, cope and find success or happiness with such rapid socio-economic and environmental changes will be the focus of my work and life of the next 50 years. My success will depend on the level of collaborative intelligence I can harness with the groups and communities I will labour with. I will not be riding on a political or religious platform as they tend to be bias in ways that divide communities rather than to unite them. I like to ride on a universal platform that uses Common Sense Factors that come from optimized Hearts and Minds of the people, by the people, for the people. Wish me luck!