A colleague's struggle to find motivation in his work prompted me to think about what my job means to me, and what makes me all I am. 3 true tales/chronicles of my encounters.
1. Malay woman on the bus
If you missed the story of how I made up my mind to reject a position that I was offered to go into PA, here is the story in summary.
On the day of voting for elections, I had been out the whole day, listening to people talk about elections, their votings and their thoughts on the government. On the whole, it was an exciting period of time, especially for a fresh grad of political science. Yet, what I was interested in was how the people were mobliised to support ideas that they believed in.
Passing by Serangoon Stadium where the PAP was congregated, I was on the bus sitting beside a Malay lady. In the span of 25 minutes, we carried on a conversation in mostly Malay and a few words of English, though I could not speak Malay. Yet, both of us had fun, and it made my day, that someone cared and trusted enough to speak to a stranger of a different race. In that flash, I realised that I wanted to work where I could make a difference to the ordinary people. Not the select few, but the heartlanders. Altrustic, but a motivating factor.
Working in PA, we lose sight sometimes that our ultimate ends are not to manage the volunteers, but the volunteers are a way of achieving our ultimate aim of bettering the lives of ordinary people like you and me. The ones who walk on the streets, the people you pass by while shopping at NTUC, and those who sit at the coffeeshops and eat soya bean. Even those whom queue up for Hello Kitty. And that, is the spirit of my work at PA.
2. Research work
In the course of researching for my ISM paper, I had to do a survey, which included knocking on doors to speak to people. While doing this, I chanced upon one family who had difficulties making ends meet, but were living in a 5 room flat. Not because they were rich, but they truly needed the space because of the number of people in their family.
It was heart-wrenching to know the story behind their family, but it increased my belief that grassroots could make the difference, if only they tried and were truly sincere about helping their residents. Of course, people volunteer for various reasons, and they may not simply be interested in helping others, and it may not even work well because of the internal politics. However, if the grassroots had done their part in trying, even managing to help one person a year would be an effort well spent. It is not the quantity, but the quality that counts.
Every individual counts.
3. Librarian at CC
When I started working at the CC, I chanced upon a lady who was obviously lost. Approaching her, I gave her directions towards the karaoke room and made some small talk.
Suddenly she asked me if I was from XX school. Having ascertained my secondary school, she proceeded to ask me if my name was ABC. You could imagine how stunned I was that this person knew me personally. I was to realise that she had worked as a librarian in my secondary school, and she remembered me as I had been a student librarian.
As a librarian, she must have seen so many students come and go in her over 40 years of service, and I was only one person. Yet she remembered me. At that point, I was touched, that I had not gone unnoticed, and that I had made that impact upon someone's life.
People can make a difference, and small things count. When we carry out our activities in life, we seldom consider that what we do changes the people we work with. At the same time, I was also impressed with the way that a simple comment made my life. People matter, and I matter.
Treat everyone sincerely. Karma gets round, and even if it doesnt, your existence matters.
The above are my two cents worth, and are meant to remind me of why I continue working even when I am feeling low. Take what you want from the experiences, and make your own judgement. I admit an amount of idealism, but if people do not aspire to ideals even when they are unattainable, we will sleep through life getting nowhere. Hopefully, others will take inspiration from it as well.
