WORK for GBE2:WEEK #33 (1-1-12 to 1-7-12)

When I was young, really young like 12, I couldn’t wait to work and so when I reached 15, I had my first job. But prior to that, when I was about  11 years old, I already started selling candies and other sweets to my classmates that were produced manually by my very own aunt. At a very young age, I learned how to put a mark-up and compute my commissions so it shouldn’t be a surprised that the first job I landed on was marketing-related. My aunt’s friend once said, “That niece of yours will surely be successful someday because she is exposed to people early. “ So next to candy, I went out to the real world selling gas-saving device  for stove cooking at home. But I guess, I was inherently ambitious. To the surprise of my supervisors,  I went  out for the big restaurants and set an appointment with the management for me to conduct a demo. I don't recall anyone buying from me because they were convinced that the product was good. I believe to this day, it was my dream and my enthusiasm which persuaded my customers to buy. 


So without much success in the city, I thought, maybe  the countryside or rural area would be better but since I was only 15, it would be difficult to travel around. That led me back to my Dad’s hometown where I first grew up and stayed until 6 years old. My aunt in the city adopted me and raised me up to give me a better future .I commuted by bus alone from the main city to his place for 5 hours each time and was able to get to know the man who disowned me but we will not go into that. Suffice it to say, he regretted it after seeing how determined I was selling my product and trying to become independent despite the fact that my aunt who adopted me could actually support me financially.  But I wanted to work and earn my own money. I thought, if I could make money, I could free myself from the debt of gratitude I owed to my aunt and her spouse.  If there’s one question I would want to ask my Mom someday whom I have no idea if she is still alive or not is this , “Why did you give me away?”  I asked  my Dad once when he was still alive and he thought I was too young to understand and couldn’t give me an answer that would either satisfy me emotionally or intellectually. Lousy, selfish and  irresponsible parents.  That’s  how I will always remember them.  Enough said. The lesson I want to impart here is, don’t be scared to raise your children with your own sweat and blood. Life has its own  way to find a way out.

Work , as difficult as it may seem , is always good as long as the real purpose of work  is clear to us. We work to live and not the other way around. As I grew older, after embarking on different fields, I came to a conclusion that sometimes, it is not how much we make that is important but how we spend and how we define our wants versus our needs. It’s exhausting or tough to work but it’s even more tough to want to work and not being able to find work. I would like to end this with this video.  If I am asked, “So do you want a paycheck or you want to play?”  I would  want to work all the way but I wouldn’t work for a pair of moon shoes or something which will not be worth what it will demand from me. It's basically calculating how much time, effort and sacrifice I can give for work without losing my sanity and being able to enjoy what I have worked for in the end. I would work  so that when I am no longer able to work someday, I would be able to play.  I hope that we will all be productive in 2012 and  still has time and energy left to play and blog . :D