The Leap

This photo was taken on my first trip to the United States. In here, you see my sister, mother and father. I guess my story really starts with my father, he began from the lower end of the working class, hardly had enough to eat, the oldest of 6 children and had a father who gambled at the race track anyway (I love my grandpa just in case my sarcasm was misread). He distinctly recalls having two eggs for each birthday and eating vegetables grown from a small patch of grass that they called a garden (oh yes that’s how bad it was) and being of a minority group in multiracial culture, most benefits wasn’t given to him(yes its slightly different in Malaysia). My father worked hard in school and is now a charted accounted with the title Controller in the Malaysian region at a global Aerospace manufacturer (Hamilton Sunstrand)

My mother on the other hand, was formerly upper class until her father acted as a guarantor for some of his relatives and when their business failed, they disappeared. My grandfather (the honorable man he was), stayed and payed every last penny he owed which relegated the family to a middle class (maybe lower) standing. My mother now works as the company secretary in one of Malaysia’s largest newspaper company.

They are both the first Christians in their families (which is nightmarish if you understand the dynamics of a typical/traditional Chinese family) and in that itself gave them a purpose for life. It also probably played a huge part in bringing them together.

I narrate the lives of my parents in such detail not to brag (though I am very proud of my parents) but to illustrate the gap of opportunity that I have today that they never had. I grew up middle class, I had everything I needed and could have everything I wanted (if not for parental discretion) and I get to study a subject of my choice in a university thousands of miles away from home. In short, I don’t understand what it’s like to have it tough and I’m given the opportunity to have “in a sense” freedom.

Hence I stand here today, a Psychology student in a world renowned institute, speaking clear English (almost no Chinese) and having an experience my parents would never have dreamed of having. I realized that my whole post was merely one dimensional and principally based on class economics. But the mere fact of me being here is a product of my parents (primarily my father) resilience to what was presented to them early on in life and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to give credit where it was due.

Oh yeah and I love my sister too ( just so no one is left out).