Sunday, November 9, 2008

#7 A Letter to Sensei


In the first post, I was but a lowly primate who simply had his eyes on more scrumptious nuts. I felt that I needed to mimic the chirps and the way to flap my wings in the manner befitting of those who soared above from where I stood looking up into the sky. Thus, like a spy on a recon mission, I decided to stalk the infamous Sir Rich and observe the how the master extricates himself from a tricky personal conflict. Thoroughly impressed by the class which oozes from his every step, I became curious why there exist such a huge gulf between us mere mortals and those who reside on cloud nine.

Taking a break from staring up all this while, I thought it would be a great idea to stretch out my neck and just have a look at how my friend to the left interacts with my other friend on the right. To my surprise, I learnt that communication meant more than the words we speak. Effective communication also require us to understand each other on a deeper level, appreciating the diversity within that stems from the unique cultural background that each of us call home.

Struck by epiphany, it suddenly seemed so obvious why Sir Brad shook his head in disappointment when I pleaded to be sent on the earlier recon mission. Sensei knew that I was not ready to learn the ultimate technique for I have yet to embark on the journey of self discovery. It was now so clear that to successfully infiltrate the evil corporate world, I would first need to accept the shadow which is my past and only then can I climb up the ranks.

I have recently started meditating again as I looked deep to find the true I within. Seeking out my dreams, I become conscious of the passion I hold for green energy. Confronting my abandoned roots, I embraced the fact that change is the color in my life and calmed the chaos in my soul. Understanding my determination, I grasped that kinship with my friends have made the journey more rewarding than the final destination. I now realize my folly to question your wisdom.

Thank you for guiding me Sensei.

12 comments:

~Jun Yen~ said...

Hi Yu Ming,

Woah, for an instance there i thought i have entered the wrong blog address. Haha. Nice creative writing. Maybe you should consider writing as a career :). An i ain't teasing ya :D. A little hard for me to understand the message behind the story though, but i am greatly impress by the post =D

As for the journey with your friends. Is there a destination? Forever there shall be a journey as one leads to another.

Angeline said...

Hi Yu Ming,

Your posts are always so unique and this one is really kinda tough for me to try to understand it. And I agree with Jun Yen, you should consider writing as a career! :D

Pei Rong said...

Hello Yu Ming,

First time commenting on your blog. Now that the sem is going to end, I shall let you in on a secret. The reason why I did not comment on your blog before is because I felt that your blog is so so so so "CHIM". I felt abit scared to comment. But I must admit that your writing is fantastic. Like what Jun yen said, you should consider being a writer or journalist. Why are you in Engineering?? Hahahahhaha.

I am often impressed by the way you answer questions or comment on others' presentation. WOW WOW WOW WOW...

joyce said...

Hi Yu Ming,

Finally the truth from all of us. Seriously, it is rather hard to match you to the image of an engineer. Shouldn't you be majoring in E.Lit? :) Your posts remind me a liitle of the poetry that I had to appreciate when I took the 'Introduction to English Literature' module. All the metaphors, figurative language used, etc. But really, the posts are intriguing and beautifully written!

Lyon said...

Yo Yu Ming,

Seems like everyone agrees with me that you're such a good writer! It's been intriguing reading your posts and I really enjoy your style of writing.

Thanks for all your constructive comments during the class! It sure kept all of us on our toes (:

Tiffany said...

Hi Yuming,

I totally agree with what peirong said. your posts are so profound that sometimes i get lost while deciphering what nut and what monkey you are referring to.

Judging from what you told me over lunch after our presentation, you did an awesome job! Smooth I would call it. Start engineering your own book or something!

Wei Kwan said...

Hey Yuming,

I think you can write really well and you often give us a very critical insight to some issues which I really appreciate it. And not to mention the amount of creativity that is present in your blog post. Yup, Engineering needs people like you ! :D

Yu Ming said...

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your kind words. I had a great time reading everybody's post as well. In fact, much of my inspiration comes from 'spying' on everybody's view on the topic before starting on my own. So kudos to everybody for helping me out all the time:)

Take care

Oxy said...

Dear Yu Ming,

The world population, to me, has already reached an unsustainable level. I'm really looking forward to see your 'green energy creation' one day. Hopefully, it can help to prolong humans' and animals' existence on Earth, delaying the process of us paving our own way to extinction =)

Brad Blackstone said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brad Blackstone said...

Yu Ming,

I read your post just as my daughter is begging me for food. I'm also hungry but trying to finish reading students' last posts. The afternoon is scorching; going for makan will be a recon mission itself, one threatening sweat and a sunburn.

Back to your blog, the post, to the comments other have written on it. I've got to elevate myself to your level otherwise my comments will seem routine, perfunctory, lacking sufficient EQ.

Oh yes, nuts. Metaphors. Engineering. Star Wars. Sensei.

Hey man, suffice it to say that, I have truly appreciated your voice, your tugging pulling and pushing, your perspective on the various issues and approaches under discussion this term. Somewhere I read in a participation profile---from a course at Harvard, I think---a descriptor that read along these lines: Your presence was such in the class that, without it, the intellectual discourse would have been negatively impacted, less ambitious, of a very different nature.

You're the Man, Yu Ming, the one who contemplates, questions, gets energized, searches for the Golden Lamb, scares the shit out of the timid, slays the dragon, wins the Lady, and brings home Victory.

It's been a pleasure working with you coz you keep the Sensei on his toes.

Thanks a million, man!

Brad

Sammy said...

Hi Yu Ming,
Long time no see.
I was surfing the net and dropped by to see the creative posts of yours. Very original
a great experience to read through your blog posts and get to know you :>