BEYOND HER SMILE

" For many are called, but few are chosen". The interview was simple. Keep the CV in order, provide necessary proof of the qualifications, smile and say that you have a basic knowledge of computers. Some faltered because of incomplete CV, some for lack of qualifications, but for most, typing skill was their Waterloo. She was chosen because her qualifications outweighed that of all the other applicants. Yet there was a need to tutor her in many things, being able to make good coffee being one of them. Well, without sounding racist, being a woman from God's own country, coffee making was not difficult for her to master, working on excel sheet was. She joined the team in October and within two months was somewhat confident enough to "allow" her boss to go for a much awaited Christmas break.

Her control over the team was slowly revealed when the team started calling her Mummy, although in her own language. She did not like it then, nor would like my mentioning it now, but a blog about her can not be complete without remembering how we addressed her. She was devoted and dedicated to such an extent that her ' daughter' in the office would tell her to be 'normal', chill out and relax. As the workforce was from different parts of the world, numerous countries, so many languages, she tried to learn a number of words and phrases to be able to converse with the sick in their own language. The Thai language was easily learnt, Thai being a large part of the workforce and also because the Thai coordinators were all too willing to teach. The admiration was but too obvious. The other language she should have learnt is Arabic; she knows why I say that. 

During her tenure, there must have been times, when she must have had a desire to smash some heads, especially mine, for pestering, coaxing, forcing her to undertake projects she was not confident of doing well. I take this opportunity to tell her that nothing is impossible, it is all in the mind. She was "forced" to make presentations, talk to bosses and write emails she was scared of to improve her visibility in the team and to increase her confidence level. I think she realised that after the completion of her tasks by the appreciation she received. We all will remember how she spoke, her palms cold and clammy, and how she waited after each slide. looking for an added note or explanation from me. Now she can sit back and smile thinking about those days. She did well and she knows it.

The choice to go or let go is easier understood if you read Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8. She has moved on, as others will too someday. Just to tell her, out of sight is not out of mind. I wish her the best in life, in whatever she does and wherever she goes.

(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal, a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to castaway; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.)