My Place – New Broom in Town

…they will open themselves to you, subsequently you will see the values of caring and compassion in contrast to the earlier cynical attitude.

“I want to wake up in the city that doesn’t sleep. To find I’m king of the hill, top of the heap,” – my favorite lines of Liza Minnelli’s “New York New York” in 1977 musical film. Like many a new “bloom” in a society, starting a new life in Penang, a city full of opportunities, but restraining outsiders left me puzzled and conflicted.

Accepted a job in this new town had given me a new lease of life which offered greater vigor and satisfaction than life in my home town. A warm reception and an appealing smile on the face of the folks here showed that they had approved of my arrival from the bottom of their heart. Most of the folks agreed that I was born with certain of amount of potential, with a right kind of stimulation occurred my potential will shine and grow further.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

I ran into the limits of resource – “physically and spiritually”. Some earlier assignments had been pulled off by the instruction of my superior. I did not have an open ear and am failed deep discussion. No sign of respect during the conversation, the colleagues tended to avert their gaze from me when I was about to chip-in. They neither listened nor bothered to share their thought with a new broom.

Earlier in the morning, my boss called me to his office and counseled me for the complaint he received from other department concerning the failure to get a mutual agreement from production folks before implementing new procedure in production floor.

A young fellow, who used to be in the same working group as mine, had once fought “life and death” with me during the crisis, turned his back from me and talked something awful about my disgraceful teamwork. Feeling betrayed and cheated, that deceptive salts rubbed into very real wounds.

I probably painfully aware of how different from my way of conducting life sounds from that of my friends here. I am most likely upset at my inability to be understood and adapted to the local customs. I felt weak and inattentive to the needs of the folks here and how I supposed to act in their dramatic life. That resources epidemic had piled misery on mine already impoverished and traumatized state of affairs as the peers prepared to hold a group outing without me.

A familiar figure approached me with a nerd smile this was the only character broke the silence and “the cold war” engulfing the office. Then another familiar figure followed. All of a sudden, I felt like surrounding by my family, and all those beautiful and warmth moments swamped in comforting the friendless heart.

A day ago, I spoke to my parents about I probably will get a new car as the old one already wrecked, and it was too expensive to get it repaired. Because the cost for a new car is nearly 4 times as the cost for the old car, that would consume some thoughts before the new purchase.

Despite the effort to go along with the team, the way I spoke, brought myself and approached others received stern reproach. I almost lost own personal “signature” among peers simply because my role was insignificant of add extra weight to their, and have not lived up the standard of the folks here.

Worst still, when a colleague absurdly reached out, and helped to interpret what he thought would be my thinking to others. Oops, he stole the whole show and won rounds of applaud. In the end, by low cunning he posed a good leadership. But me, the charisma fell flat, off on the wrong foot.

As far as I know, in this acquisitive society, two roles awaiting us: How I fit into their dramatic life? And how they fit into mine? People will curious about me and whether I can fully understand the basis customs of living in their society. How can I connect with people and make them feel as relieve so they will be willing to open themselves to me, and share a piece of themselves with me?

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

I finally got my new car on the road and traded off the old one. I am not an enthusiastic fan of auto; the purchase was solely for the convenience and the comfort of driving a bigger car during a family outing. That afternoon, the colleagues who usually took no notice of my appearance suddenly came forward and chatted with me; some of them had offered to have lunch together in the town.

See if you are as surprised as I was at how far a deal (purchase) goes in this part of the country, I am, at this moment, able to form a connection with a broader range of people here. My mail box was flooded by messages and comments about the reports I sent earlier. Some top officers started to show interest in my project, and approved other staffs to share their thoughts and support me.

During the meeting, the head of department greeted me and gave a standing ovation on the ideas I presented during the meeting. Honestly speaking, only few ideas presented are innovative and creative the rests are gratuitous! Then, the dramatic, busy days were ahead of me.

There will not be any surprising compensate to that cold reception until today I offered to give them a lift to the nearby restaurant. Perhaps, some may think why waste time obligating oneself to go out with these mocking colleagues.

That is life, they maybe sound materialistic in the beginning but as the relationships held longer and the bond grew stronger they will open themselves to you subsequently you will see the values of caring and compassion in contrast to the earlier cynical attitude. These are faces of Penang. They are not a perfect community, but I can hear their heart beating when they are touched by my humble and warmth approach.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Liza’s way of humming that powerful anthem "But the World Goes Round" is very touching and soulful. The lyrics are so dead on and filled with hope and optimism, showing what the actual world is all about. That sounds more pragmatic in this inconsistent world than Thomas Friedman’s “The world is flat …equal opportunity”. I hope the world is flat, equal, not spiky, …etc. I am thinking… uneven road though was tough to trek and full of bumps and lumps, as we conquered each strike successfully it would leave us a landmark of achievement and surprise.

Wai Ping Lee/Jan 2011