WORDS FOR A YOUNG FRIEND
Dear Friend, In the first place, you should have goals. You should be very clear as to what you want. It is like rowing a perahu jalur (dugout canoe). You should have a destination. You can't just go rowing all over the river without having the slighest clue as to where you want to go. From what I understood, you did have a goal. I also understood that you are already halfway to your goal. You need only row the last mile. It is tough I know. Nothing is easy and nothing comes easy. That is what life is all about. It is rare for something that you want to be handed to you on a platter (silver or melamine). You, like everyone else before you, have to work hard for it. I know you are prepared to work hard as you have done before. So I guess it is all about motivation. You have to think about the carrot at the end of the stick or whatever is for you at the end of the perahu jalur journey. The trick is to visualise the rewards as lucidly as possible. If it is a car that is waiting for you at the end of the journey, don't just think of a car. Be specific. Think of the model, the colour and you inside, driving it. Or it could be something for your family. A bigger house perhaps? Then visualise the new house down to the colour of the curtains in the kitchen. Of course your journey in life will not end there. A destination is never the end of your journey.
It is too easy to give up (except smoking or other ingrained bad habits) but I do not think this is your character. You learnt the Malay peribahasa "Alang alang menyelok pekasam, biar sampai ke pangkal lengan, alang alang mandi biar basah". I am sure you don't mandi P.Ramlee.
You might want to turn around and ask me how successful I am (or was) to be qualified to give you these words of advice. To that my reply is with another question. If a thief tells you that stealing is wrong, is he less right? You don't have to die to talk about dying do you?
