A birthday letter

Just when I thought Maycol's last letter was awesome, I received another one from him today written in October, the month of his tenth birthday.

"I write you this time to tell you that I was so utterly happy to receive the present you sent me..."

And guess what he got from me for his birthday? A tee shirt and underwear! "They look very nice and I loved them."

I want to commend Compassion and the local church partners at Maycol's project for helping to select his birthday presents every year and they always credit the sponsor for their wonderful gift ideas. They really know how to bridge the gaps of geographical distance between sponsor and child and postal restrictions by encouraging the children to write to their sponsors and tell them what gifts they receive.

This isn't said often enough but the little things that Compassion does mean the whole world to both sponsor and child. Compassion, insisting on doing what they do all these years in Jesus' name, is the glue that securely seals the friendship between Maycol and I.

This time Maycol sent me "mucho cariño y un gran abrazo"... a lot of affection and a huge hug. Every time this boy hugs and kisses me with his words it's just as though I'm being hugged and kissed for real. Thank you, Compassion!

A thousand kisses from Colombia

Got mail today from Maicol dated September 09. There is an obvious delay lately in the supply chain of Compassion's mail centre, possibly due to rearrangement of manpower in the wake of the earthquakes in Haiti. But holding Maicol's latest letter in my hands beats any delay I had to endure.

This boy is really something else. I'd summarise his letter here but I thought you should read it in his own words, or rather as close to his Español as possible:

Querido Mr. ------, (Dear Mr. ------,)

I am so happy to write you again. I have a thousand things to tell you for you have asked me a lot of questions in your letters. I thank you for your beautiful letters. I had fun reading them and I loved the pictures of the zoo. What was your favourite animal? How old are your parents? They look young in the pictures and so do you.

I want you to know that in Colombia we celebrate el mes del amor y la amistad... the month of love and friendship in September. It is very lovely to see everything decorated with hearts and in schools they play secret friend. Have you ever played secret friend? What I like about my country is that it has diverse landscapes and weathers. My favourite drink is soda. I like it because of the gas and my favourite food is fried fish.

I also want to tell you that thank God my brother Andres is doing well. Lately I have read an interesting book called Damas y Caballeros... "Ladies and Gentlemen", which talks about a theatre where they represent warrior princes. I like reading history books. As for the ranch you asked me about I guess it is the project's farm and it is doing well. We have many roosters and chickens that grow up quickly.

Finally I want you to know you are always in my prayers. Now I ask God to bless your parents and that we get to meet in Colombia soon. I also ask you to help me pray that I do well in school. I say goodbye with a thousand kisses. Dios te bendiga y gracias por tu cariño... God bless you and thank you for your affection.

Sincerely,

Maycol Barón

I don't know about you but everything about what he said gets under my skin in the good way. Maybe I'm just like a parent who never tires of speaking about his children while the listeners try very hard to hide their boredom out of sheer politeness.

I love the fact that he enjoys reading. And history books! Honestly just how many kids love history?

It breaks my heart that he's looking forward to the two of us meeting as much as I do. And nothing gives me more joy than him committing it to prayers. I can't think of anything else that draws me closer to him more than when we're both praying for the same thing.

The question plagues me everyday: Who am I to deserve this boy's love and thousand kisses?

A postcard from Colombia

Maicol told me in his last letter that he would really like me to visit him... Nuestra amistad es como un cuento que lei solo escuchas pero no lo vez asi es contigo; solo te veo en fotos y leo lo que me cuentas pero no te veo en verdad. Quisiera que vivieras a visitarme... "Our friendship is like a book I read. I hear of you but I cannot see you. I see you in photos and only read about the things you tell me but I can't see you. I would really like that you come to visit me..."

I knew this boy would go far. And he's only ten! A poet lives in this kid and he's gonna do some serious damage when he realize what he is capable of. He has asked me once before if I have ever visited Colombia. This new letter reveals the reason behind his question. He wants to meet me in person.

And meet me he shall. I've decided after reading his letter to plan for a trip to visit Maicol in Colombia. I'll write him and tell him that I'll start saving up for the trip and hopefully it won't be too long before Little Chief and I see each other.

Lots of things to do in the meantime. Besides saving up for the trip, I want to learn my Spanish beyond song lyrics and basic greetings. Although I will be accompanied by an interpreter throughout our meeting, I want to be able to comprenda firsthand, as mucho as I can, what Maicol would habla...

¡Ay, caramba! The task looks nearly impossible but for Little Chief it's worth it.

Te quiero

Received a letter from Maycol yesterday. He's in second grade now and is doing well, he said. And he's grown up a lot since his last photo, but looks just as adorable. He also said "te quiero" and, as always, sent me a huge hug. This kid will do well with girls some day.

Tomorrow in history: Last day as pharmaceutical rep

With tomorrow as the last day of my two-year service with the company, I have the following people to thank in retrospect:

Anna Lau – Thank you for your constant mentorship especially in the government hospital sector and for imparting your professional knowledge and experience to me. It has been a fruitful and pleasant time partnering with you.

Eugene Chai – Ah Gene-Gor! Thank you for being a wonderful teammate and counselor. Your casual and generous attitudes have gone beyond what colleagues do and have given birth to our friendship.

Annie Poh – Dai Kah Jay! Thank you for accommodating this young and inexperienced colleague in every way and for cheering up the office every morning simply with your presence and jolliness.

Kenny Lim – Regional Sales Champion for 2005! Thank you for being the shining star and pride of Sarawak team. You are definitely a professional role model to look up to. Your thundering presence is something that I will dearly miss!

Sharon Lee – Thank you for making laughing such an easy thing to do. Your professional integrity with your uniquely personal touch is something that’s truly inspiring and admirable.

Now to the best manager I’ve known yet:

George Kueh – I couldn’t have asked for a better boss! Your steadfastness, ingenuity, enthusiasm, integrity and humility are a combination that I’ve never seen before in a superior and that I fear I will never find in a future boss. Thank you first and foremost for believing in me and for offering me this opportunity of a lifetime to work under you for the past two years. Thank you also for continuing to mold and make me into a part of your vision for the team and for expecting the best from me. And I couldn’t thank you enough for your gracious motivation in times when I fall short. You are a constant source of inspiration and a secret recipe that propels personal and professional achievements! I’m simply blessed to have caught a glimpse of the ingredients for success in you.

Not forgetting all others in the bigger family of Sanofi Aventis Malaysia (and the prenuptial Sanofi~Synthelabo days) who made my term in the company an even richer one. To my Sabah and Brunei teammates: Ian Chan, Gavin Wong, Michael Yee, Josephine Yong, Chai Fui Ming, Felix Chu, Ken Yong, Vincente Wong, and Cynthia Lee-Kwong – for lack of better words, thank you for the brief but cherished connections we’ve had during each company get-together. You are a bunch of friendly and fun colleagues!

To Colin Yap and Goon Su Aan in Marketing – thank you through and through for your fantastic work and collaborations. To Tan Mae Lyn, Naresh Kumar, Simon Jesudason, Loo Beng Siew and all others in Training and Business Support – thank you for making it possible for me to function and excel in my daily responsibilities. To the ever-smiling Cheah Shih Wei – thank you for putting a smile on my face with your valuable sales updates ;-p. To all my colleagues in Finance – thank you for saving me every month end with your prompt deposits!

To MK – thank you to the invisible hands at work behind the repping scene that “domino-effected” results down the ladder and made much of my professional success a possibility. To Victor George Phillips – first of all thank you for agreeing with George that I had what it takes to represent the company at the frontline. Thank you also for being the character I looked forward to at every company function, and for caring enough to remember the little details in passing. Your occasional reminders of bigger things in life have been and always will be a source for forward momentum. To YS Chua – thank you for leading the team to a superb first quarter at the start of 2006. I deeply regret having missed the opportunity to extend my term under your leadership. My best wishes to you and the future accomplishments of the company with you at the helm. Also a special thank-you goes out to Patrick Lau for patiently grooming me during my probational period with the company, and to Cecilia Teoh who never ceased to amaze me with her great affability since my first days with the company.

And last but not least, to countless others and the many nameless faces in the company who have ever offered a passing smile in the corridor, uttered a warm greeting, helped with my detailing skills or passed on a plate in a food queue – thank you for seizing the moment to make one other nameless colleague feel at ease and at home.

Thank you all for everything. My best wishes to you in all your current and future undertakings. May the gracious God bless you.

A writing to B on bad dreams

Dear B,

I had bad dreams recently. Not necessarily nightmarish, but it's those rare dreams that disturb you and make you think a lot about what you're supposed to do with your life. I saw myself fervently defensing my faith in one dream I woke up feeling sad about how far that was from reality. In another dream I saw evil manifesting in the strangest of places it broke my heart immeasurably. And I woke up feeling sad once again for how far that, too, was from how I really am in reality.

I watched a good film recently called "The Gathering Storm" about Winston Churchill before WWII began. I'm not sure if that was an actual quote from him, but the actor playing Churchill said of his political ally at his funeral that "People often act heroically before they fully appreciate the dangers that lie ahead. [He] saw those dangers and was afraid of them. But he did what he did in spite of his fear. No man can be braver than that."

I wish at the end of my life something of that sort can be said of me. Maybe I won't ever be brave enough before my life ends in God's hands but I certainly am afraid of the decisions that I have to make. But it's at once strange and wonderful, and it is clearer to me now, how even the tiniest thing one does is tied in directly to one's allegiance to Christ. If that hasn't encouraged brave decisions, it certainly has laid bare the magnitude of our participation in the whole landscape of eternity, which in a divine round-about way encourages brave and right decisions.

Yes God is good.

Yours,
A

A writing to B on stuck-ups

Dear B,

There's so much bridging work to do between my acquired knowledge and my will. They've never been on friendly terms it seems. Nothing beats me more than this. But my first reaction would not be to go to the Bridge, but to build a bridge of my own. To know Christ as who He really is I need to study His Word and spend more time praying, which I'm not doing. Today my family and I were cruising in my dad's car and my mum was giving my brother advice on housing. She has said the same things to me before in private and it hit me today that, regardless of the topic, my brother's reactions to her and mine are never the same. I always knew that, though she could be "overly informative" at times, my mum does what she does because she loves us. Because of that she can talk to me about anything she wants. On the other hand my brother just can't seems to find the time nor the patience to sit through the same stuff from her. He would often react to her in the most off-putting way he knows how just to get her off whatever subject she's on. In essence she wants the best things for the both of us but we just don't see it the same way. And I think that's what I'm like with God the way my brother is with my mum. I don't want to spend enough time with Him to know how much He loves me.

Is there hope for my brother to see my mum's love for him as it is? And by the same token is there hope for me to want to know God enough to pursue Him? On both occasions I hope there is.

Till I hear from you again telling me all about it, God bless you.

Yours,
A

A writing to B on fairyland

Hi B,

I read this by G.K. Chesterton from his piece titled 'Fairy Tales' in the book "All Things Considered":

"We are in this fairyland on sufferance; it is not for us to quarrel with the conditions under which we enjoy this wild vision of the world. The vetoes are indeed extraordinary, but then so are the concessions. The idea of property, the idea of some one else's apples, is a rum idea; but then the idea of there being any apples is a rum idea. It is strange and weird that I cannot with safety drink ten bottles of champagne; but then the champagne itself is strange and weird, if you come to that. If I have drunk of the fairies' drink it is but just I should drink by the fairies' rules. We may not see the direct logical connection between three beautiful silver spoons and a large ugly policeman; but then who in fairy tales ever could see the direct logical connection between three bears and a giant, or between a rose and a roaring beast? Not only can these fairy-tales be enjoyed because they are moral, but morality can be enjoyed because it puts us in fairyland, in a world at once of wonder and of war."

Chesterton says that we're living in God's story. Ravi adds on to this by saying that "Wonder by itself, unanchored in truth, cannot be distinguished from a fairy tale." He also said that "The world of a child may delight in the fantastic, but the world of an adult must move from what is merely fantastic to that which is fantastically true."

I have often thought of life this way, as a "true fairy tale." Christianity or rather Christ is my only support of that notion but one that didn't ring true often enough because I thought if it were true then I should be aware of more fantastic things or at least be more aware of the fantastic. If life is a true fairyland then it doesn't add up that I'm seeing nothing but mundane dealings in it. But I was wrong in making that assessment. Chesterton says that we are in a fairyland on sufferance. Like Uncle Andrew in "The Magician's Nephew", we've long since broken our veto so even the fantastic wouldn't look in the least interesting to us now. Without Jesus it's not possible for us to cross from this sorry state to where He intends us to be.

Something else I read today moved me. It's a quote by a guy named J.H. Oldham from Ravi's book "Recapture the Wonder":

"There are somethings in life, and they may be the most important things, that we cannot know by research or reflection, but only by committing ourselves. We must dare in order to know. Life is full of situations to which I can respond not with part of myself but only with commitment of my whole being."

That is the greatest challenge for me yet - to dare to fully commit myself in order to know God. I'm living off His wonderful concessions while wrongfully questioning His vetoes. It's a shame that I'm wearing out my how-comes.

Hope you are well. Thank you that I'm still wrestling with myself.

Yours,
A