Learning and our ego.

At the Semarak Hill this morning, I met this young man who asked me the meaning of the word 'g-o-n-e'. I told him the pronunciation and the meaning. 'Gone' just means no more, no more to be found or seen. Then, he says, "What about 'Let bygone be bygone?"
So, I told him that by adding the 'by' to the 'gone' the meaning has changed; that 'bygone' is what is past and the sentence means 'let the past be past' and therefore 'no need to bring it up again'. With that he nodded and smilingly told me he was trying to learn some English Language. In fact, that was the second time he asked me the meaning for an English word. Of course, it was my pleasure to help him. It is always heartening to see someone wish to improve himself and God must have sent him to give me the opportunity to help.

Do you know how daunting it is for a grown person to learn a new language. It is all the obstacles that our ego put up. There are all kinds of fears and all of them are imaginary. All the obstacles are imaginary. And even if there are some individuals who would dare to laugh at our mistakes, we ought to realise, the courage to learn is greater than the needless and valueless discouragement that are encountered. Furthermore, any mockery can never be an obstacle unless we allow it to become one. For this reason I respect all those who take up the desire to learn a language at that age. There is the indication of greatness in the act.

I know of a young lady, small in built but very energetic, who knew hardly any Mandarin or English after her schooldays. She only studied the Malay language in school. Today, this lady can speak good Mandarin, although there are still mistakes made every now and then which are sometimes corrected by her children. (Her children are studying in schools with Mandarin as the medium of instruction.) From my observation of her, she readily accepts the correction and sometimes even asks for a repetition of the phrase corrected. Her English was not as good although she could speak the language as if it were her mother tongue, rattling away whatever instructions she wishes to convey without much thought to the grammar or the correctness of the sentence. Of course, there were times her language could tickle those within hearing distance as the meaning brings forth all kinds of different unintentional messages. And the beauty of it is that she takes all these in her strides. It does not stop her from learning from her mistakes and practising the language. She improves.

As I see it, she is one lady who would not allow ego to be an obstacle to her advancement. Many less courageous people would have stopped and called it a day but not this pillar of strength. And this, despite her knowing that she does make mistakes. There was once when someone could not understand what she wanted and I was requested to explain to the other person what she wanted. And of course, when it came to formal letters, I have helped to correct her attempts. For me, it has always been a pleasure to be of help to such great people who can overcome their ego to reach their goals in life. Thank god, I was given the opportunity to help.

Actually, our ego can either take us to greater heights or leave us struggling to get up. It was my ego to be better that helped me to overcome my parents' financial position and the weakness of my younger days. Many have not dared to approach others for help partly because of their ego, partly fearing that others would see their weakness. But then, who does not have weakness? All of us do have, more or less. And unless we realise our weakness, how do we ever hope to overcome them and reach for our strengths? In fact I thank God for allowing me to know my weakness so that I could slowly but gradually work on them to emerge stronger in my later years. Today, I can say that I am what I am because of the efforts I put in in overcoming those weaknesses. But then, if I had denied being weak, I would not have strove to be better.