Just this morning, I attended a meeting with the project
team to discuss on the mobilization plan for the vessel and barges. Throughout
the meeting, attendees threw out comments like “We’re not sure if this other
vessel will arrive on time,” or “What if the weather goes bad and we cannot
depart on schedule?” and then we were discussing on what ifs and what ifs and
what ifs. Then out of nowhere, an American member of the project team, voiced
out clearly and loudly:
“Everybody in this room DOUBTS, but no one is daring enough
to make a DECISION. No one wants to hold the responsibility to do so. Make a
decision, commit and we tackle the problems as they come. We need to change the
way we think here. We need to change our mindset and stop this mentality,”
And then everyone just kept quiet and nodded, agreeing to
what he just said.
All you need is just an outsider, a different race, a
different nationality, to come up with a different opinion on the whole
situation.
The mat-sallehs
aren’t the best in everything, but when it comes to their ‘out-of-the-box’
thinking and their attitude, their values, I give them thumbs up. It was some of the things
that I learnt during my 4 years studying in Sydney.
But what happened? I’ve learnt a lot from them. Have I not
applied them in my everyday life? Or have I been too absorbed with culture of
the majorities here? It has only been two years since I came back.
That particular incident had me thinking.
If I were to work in an international company, there will be
a variety of people right? It will be good to learn from them and to absorb
their culture, especially at the start of our career years. Imagine what I can
learn from a Japanese! You know what they say. Your surroundings shape you!
It also makes me sad that Malaysians have quite a long way
to go when it comes to the right mentality, the right attitude in life.
But we really can’t be depending so much on the surroundings
right? This is home after all. Malaysia. What I can do instead, is to reflect,
on myself, on the surroundings, and BE that different outstanding person that
sees things in a different manner.
Why expect a change in the society when you cannot even
change yourself?
“If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at
yourself, and make that CHANGE,” Man in the Mirror by Micheal Jackson
