Turtle On a Fencepost

“If you see a turtle on a fence post, you know that he had some help” – Alex Haley, author of Roots. There are actually two aspects of the story. Once the turtle is up on the fence, it can’t get down and if it does, it’s going to be painful. Nor can it do very much up on the fence except hang around!

For the purpose of this post, I’ll stick with the first angle. I remember everyone who has helped me in my journey. It may not be a big deal to these people but these small acts of kindness have changed my life tremendously. Firstly, I believe in divine intervention and nothing happens without a purpose and God has placed these people in my path. There have been many who have helped me on my journey to personal growth and opportunities.

I remember Susy Chan who insisted I went for an audition in RTM Kuching which led me to my first exposure on TV. I fondly acknowledge the late Encik Saleh Pateh Akhir who saw me and gave me an opportunity to do TV news, George Abraham who asked me to join radio news, Shah Ghani who took a chance on me and hired me at Edelman PR, Eric Wong who headhunted me into IBM, R Vijay Kumar who exposed me to marketing and the wonders of personal development, Noelle Lim who called me and asked if I was keen to join this unknown radio station called BFM, Malek Ali who hired me which led me to meeting many influential people, Dato Michael Tio who exposed me to a group of visionary entrepreneurs, Shankar Santhiram who cheered me up at my lowest, Biresh Vrajlal who asked me to write the first book, Benson Wong who helped me in publishing & distributing my first book, and many, many, many more people at different points in my life. If you ask me about every juncture in my life, I can give you a name!

I have seen people who have fabricated their journey as in “I did it all by myself” even before they have arrived or biting the hand that fed them. I have no idea where this stems from. Is it insecurity or a false sense of pride? For me to look good, no one else can? Sadly, I’ve also been around long enough to see how life unfolds. And maybe now that lone turtle on top of the fence won’t have anyone helping them in the future or worse, tumble down painfully by itself.