Scenario 1:
You see… those days were difficult. There are 8 of us and as a teacher and the sole distributor; my father had to really restraint our financial. We were only given 10 cents the most or at times we bring food from home to school. I remember cycling to school.
Scenario 2:
This area was remote those days. You know this Taman Selamat… I used to follow my grandma to bring the cows to graze grass at that area. I used to walk from my house at the other end to this area to wait for the bus here. Must be extra early, if I miss the bus, I had to wait for another one hour, and of course I’ll be late to school.
The 3 of us were in different era when we were in our teenage years. The 70’s, 80’s and 90’s respectively. Christina and I were car-pooling with Dr.Ooi and we came up with this topic.
The first scenario took place in the early 70’s, she’s a doctor, but from her story, it did not happen with a finger snap. She went through hardships and knew how it feels to strive hard with limited resources.
Second scenario was in the early 80’s. She’s now a lawyer who came from a humble background.
Myself… from the late 90’s… still climbing in the career world… and yes I came from a very humble background too.
After having that conversation, memory of my mom telling us stories of difficult times that she had to endure and somehow managed to survive through, came back to me. I loved her stories… no matter whether they were sad or happy stories, I really loved listening to her tales.
Nowadays, our conversation is more haha.. gossip-alike… But going back to her stories back then, I think I grew up with her stories… as I can clearly remember most of them. When I was young, I promised myself that I would remember all her stories so that I can pass it to my kids in future; I wanted to be her extra memory disk ;)
Both my parents wish the same for us – they want us to be better-off from them. Knowing how much my mom loved education but couldn’t get a proper one, I would feel bad about it. I know she wants us to achieve her unfulfilled dreams…. until now… my parents constantly encourage us to achieve whatever we could /want since opportunities are just beyond grab these days.
I have my own share of tales to be passed on to the next generation. Born in the early 80’s, the 'conversion' era; when our country starts to bloom in terms of development and the time when middle-class group start to materialize.
I can be very passionate when I tell my friends about my childhood. We were not rich, but very happy. Despite the hardships we were in, my parents manage to pull through and things got better for us as my sisters and I reached our teenage years.
At this age, after going through different phases of life… when I look back, I’m able to put a smile. A smile… remembering those times…
I miss our humble-shack. Come to think of it, I can never stop if I start listing all my memories, be it the wonderful ones or the hardships. I find it interesting to have tales to be told.
It is the same like the grandmas or grandpas stories that we listened with awe, and become even more compelling when we were told about how different things were… turning into a motivation when they start to tell us how they manage to survive the difficult times.
Everyone has a tale to tell….
Everyone leaves footprints along their journey in life. But the question is… do you track back your prints or you prefer to just rub it off?
It doesn’t matter if you are born in destitution or in affluence… You do have a Tale… In years to come… what we have today may seem to be obsolete for the new generations.
But talking about hardship? And hmm… Talking about art of survival… Will these people still have a Tale to tell? Will they be passionate about it? I don’t know… maybe when we reach the appropriate age… we will start to be passionate :P and start to go on with lines like “You know those days…..”
So … what Tales do you have in mind to be passed on to your kids (besides the story of how mommy meets daddy, of course) :P
Additional Notes:
I've recently read a good fiction on family tales. It is a wonderful book n one of the best reads i've had so far. Rice Mother by Rani Manicka. there's many thing i can relate to when i read that book... maybe that's why i enjoy the read... i passed it to one of my frens... she can't relate to the story that much... but she enjoyed reading it too ;)
You see… those days were difficult. There are 8 of us and as a teacher and the sole distributor; my father had to really restraint our financial. We were only given 10 cents the most or at times we bring food from home to school. I remember cycling to school.
Scenario 2:
This area was remote those days. You know this Taman Selamat… I used to follow my grandma to bring the cows to graze grass at that area. I used to walk from my house at the other end to this area to wait for the bus here. Must be extra early, if I miss the bus, I had to wait for another one hour, and of course I’ll be late to school.
The 3 of us were in different era when we were in our teenage years. The 70’s, 80’s and 90’s respectively. Christina and I were car-pooling with Dr.Ooi and we came up with this topic.
The first scenario took place in the early 70’s, she’s a doctor, but from her story, it did not happen with a finger snap. She went through hardships and knew how it feels to strive hard with limited resources.
Second scenario was in the early 80’s. She’s now a lawyer who came from a humble background.
Myself… from the late 90’s… still climbing in the career world… and yes I came from a very humble background too.
After having that conversation, memory of my mom telling us stories of difficult times that she had to endure and somehow managed to survive through, came back to me. I loved her stories… no matter whether they were sad or happy stories, I really loved listening to her tales.
Nowadays, our conversation is more haha.. gossip-alike… But going back to her stories back then, I think I grew up with her stories… as I can clearly remember most of them. When I was young, I promised myself that I would remember all her stories so that I can pass it to my kids in future; I wanted to be her extra memory disk ;)
Both my parents wish the same for us – they want us to be better-off from them. Knowing how much my mom loved education but couldn’t get a proper one, I would feel bad about it. I know she wants us to achieve her unfulfilled dreams…. until now… my parents constantly encourage us to achieve whatever we could /want since opportunities are just beyond grab these days.
I have my own share of tales to be passed on to the next generation. Born in the early 80’s, the 'conversion' era; when our country starts to bloom in terms of development and the time when middle-class group start to materialize.
I can be very passionate when I tell my friends about my childhood. We were not rich, but very happy. Despite the hardships we were in, my parents manage to pull through and things got better for us as my sisters and I reached our teenage years.
At this age, after going through different phases of life… when I look back, I’m able to put a smile. A smile… remembering those times…
I miss our humble-shack. Come to think of it, I can never stop if I start listing all my memories, be it the wonderful ones or the hardships. I find it interesting to have tales to be told.
It is the same like the grandmas or grandpas stories that we listened with awe, and become even more compelling when we were told about how different things were… turning into a motivation when they start to tell us how they manage to survive the difficult times.
Everyone has a tale to tell….
Everyone leaves footprints along their journey in life. But the question is… do you track back your prints or you prefer to just rub it off?
It doesn’t matter if you are born in destitution or in affluence… You do have a Tale… In years to come… what we have today may seem to be obsolete for the new generations.
But talking about hardship? And hmm… Talking about art of survival… Will these people still have a Tale to tell? Will they be passionate about it? I don’t know… maybe when we reach the appropriate age… we will start to be passionate :P and start to go on with lines like “You know those days…..”
So … what Tales do you have in mind to be passed on to your kids (besides the story of how mommy meets daddy, of course) :P
Additional Notes:
I've recently read a good fiction on family tales. It is a wonderful book n one of the best reads i've had so far. Rice Mother by Rani Manicka. there's many thing i can relate to when i read that book... maybe that's why i enjoy the read... i passed it to one of my frens... she can't relate to the story that much... but she enjoyed reading it too ;)
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