Saturday, September 30, 2006
Friendship Beyond CVs
For the last three hours, my brain has been the meeting point of both random, practical and profound thoughts. These thoughts have been jumping into my head, finding a comfortable spot and mingling with other thoughts. Now, all I have to do is play some music, serve some wine and the party would be complete. :)
I can only imagine how my thoughts introduce themselves together. How will my ice skating addiction describe herself to my desire to learn more IT skills? Will my "how to remain private while living out my purpose" reflection flirt with "which charities should I support"? :) As in any social setting, my thoughts are finding some common ground.
Many times, when I try to find common ground with people, the first real question that I ask is: "What are you doing now?" While people don't get offended, my consistent desire to know what people's jobs are made me realize that I sometimes equate people's life's purpose to what they do.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with being career-oriented. In fact, I find the pursuit of a good career quite exciting. However, there is something sad about defining a person's worth based on it. How can I believe that a person was born into this world just so that he could get a job and acquire prestige?
I am quite lucky that there is someone in my life who reminds me that people should be seen beyond their job descriptions -- Cyrus. :)
Cyrus was my colleague during my first term in the university student council. Back then, his victory was controversial because he won by only one vote. As a person though, there was nothing controversial about him. In fact, he was and still is one of the humblest people I know. I really admired how he would go out of his way to help people around him during their times of worry and how available he was to listen to people's rants.
During my times of trouble, I remember how much I "abused" his patience. Since he lived pretty nearby my home in Manila, I would often ask him to pick me up and to drive around our area so that I can talk until his ears bled. :) I also recall how I asked him to make those Powerpuff pins for my election campaign. I am sure he enjoyed helping me. But, I am also sure that searching for cute pictures of Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup was not exactly his favorite past time. :)
What I positively remember was that he was always supportive of my career choices no matter how crazy they were. During my first (and dismal, hehe) business attempt at a bazaar in Manila, he readily gave his support. When I was considering a million job options, 450 business ideas and everything in-between, he said encouraging words and even gave some tips on how to go about my so-called career path (or back then a career-dirt road). At that point, I realized that Cyrus was one of those people who could not really care less whether I became a diplomat or a bum. What mattered to him was that I was happy and enjoying my life. :)
Cyrus is one of the sincerest, most generous and simplest people I know. Even though our correspondences have been sporadic, there is always a sense of friendship and trust that exist between us. His friendship to me is a simple reminder that the relationships that are worth keeping are the ones that are gauged by anything but external achievements. :)
To Cyrus, thanks for everything! Wishing you the best of health. :)
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If you know of any worthy charity causes to which I will donate all proceeds of the ads in this blog, please send me an email. :)
Thanks to Christina, Karin, Sebastien and Paula. Huge shout outs to Aine and Kim for the special mention on their blogs. :) Special thanks to Janne for fixing my IT problems. One day, I will be as good as he is. Or maybe not. Hehe. :)
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