Lessons of Life from Olives

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

-         Maya Angelou

I just reached out again to my former school friend whom I have not met for 25 years.

As I fondly recalled past memories, I remember the time when I was very timid and felt so scared going into the boarding house in a private boys’ school in Perth, Western Australia.

Fortunately, I was warmly welcome and well assisted in my transition by the kind hearted housemaster, Mr Ross Sweet as well as several friends, especially Iman, Roy, Alvin, and Khairul.

Some other friends from the neighboring houses were welcoming too. Dheeraj and Jackie were nice to me too and I still remember that feeling.

Other classmates who were gracious towards me even as we were very competitive, in a friendly way and with mutual respect, to one another included Harry, Wesley, David and Craig.

They made my brief stay in the boarding house something I could survive through and when I looked back, memorable. That went on throughout the time we had in Hale School, the private boys’ school established by Bishop Hale in 1858, a school with very rich heritage which we are all still very proud of.

Those conditions became very conducive for me to unleash my potential and from then on, I became a prizewinning student which continued on to my time in university and subsequently I maintained the work ethics, discipline as curiosity to keep learning, keep improving and keep putting things into practice in real business. Prior to that, I was not that kind of person. These friends and teachers helped me become that person. They became part of my very important formative years.

I am always thankful to these helpful friends who, admittedly in retrospect, also tolerated my relatively timid, closed nature. It is a separate story in itself as at that time I knew my father was occupied with problems to solve which also indirectly made me feel burdened due to my position as the eldest son in the family who had followed him throughout the journey where he built up his group of companies, a separate story of that here:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/mentors-tough-love-jackie-chan-bruce-lee-andre-hsu

Those friends did not know the problems that were really heavy burdens too in my mind at that time because I never told anyone that at that time. They were nonetheless always kind towards me and I tried to reciprocate as much as I could too. That, I always remember and I am thankful for that.

During high school, there was one special moment I remember even until 25 years later.

It was during our valedictory dinner in 1997 and the precise location was the Radisson Hotel in Scarborough, Western Australia.

I and my mother were seated in the same table as my friend, his mother and his father.

At that time, I was honestly not so used to yet to western customs and western food. Hence, coming from a background where the cuisines usually use a lot of spices, I found the hotel food really bland and not exactly appetizing. I still remember that feeling too.

I remember then my friend’s father who was a devout Christian gave me this advice: “Just like olives that may taste sour and a little bit bitter initially and you may taste some sweetness afterwards, that’s what life is like.”

To honor him and at the same time protect his privacy, I shall just abbreviate his name and call him Uncle S.P. I also still remember the impression he had on me was that he was a respectable, honorable businessman type of person.

At that time I was just a teenager so I thought initially that the uncle was just trying to console this boy who did not quite enjoy his food. That’s what I felt initially at that moment.

Over time, however, as I recently conveyed to my friend, I began to realize that what his father said actually does make sense. I began to enjoy eating olives too, literally, and I love them in salads, sandwiches and pizzas.

I shared with that friend that thanks to his father, each time I have my setbacks, challenges, or sufferings in my journey, that’s one of the anchors I remember to use to lift me back up.

During such moments, I say to myself that now I taste the sour, bitter part, so the sweet part will come too which I can look forward to that as well, and that’s just the way life is, irrespective of how intelligent, insightful, strategic or whatever other high qualities we have.

So, never mind that I could do this and that, I am still human and I am still subject to life cycles too.

I am not immune at all and I too cannot strategize my way to go against the path and sets of qualities given to us by the Divinity.

What I can do is to make the most out of whatever circumstances that come, accept them although sometimes it can be very hard to do, face them with courage and improve ourselves all the time.

What we choose to do is still after all still within our control and is what we can and should focus on.

I can still strategize my way to assess people, environment, and read present situations using several strategy tools with the view of trying to improve things and subtly, gradually heal people, situations. We should not waste energy being in denial of and resist realities or being unrealistically wishful that circumstances are not what they are when such circumstances are not what we ideally want. Those resistance can only drain our energy and is pointless.

We should gracefully accept, go in the flow, face them and keep improving ourselves to become better and better than we were before.

I hope my sharing today can be useful for whoever who read this story as I thought I should put this in writing, share it and make this simple yet profound advice I was fortunate to receive a lasting memory for life and make it also useful for more people.

I am forever grateful to Uncle S.P. and other people who helped shape me to become who I am today.

See my posts #A????Hsu

#A????HsuSeriousBiz

My professional activity: https://lnkd.in/gksxshb

#strategy #business

#LBFalumni | #SkyHighTower