lessoned learned - about & from them

i have not properly synthesised my reflections and the points below are rather off-the-cuff. as mentioned, the context here was - a group of south asians walking away from the undeveloped site after their game of cricket and a few of them broke away from the group, bade their farewells and walked/ or cycled past me and headed towards my estate. the remaining of the group continued walking towards the construction site (presumably construction workers). this happened sunday morning after my morning walk as i was walking home.

a quite few things hit me after the event, and they were:

• these people were obviously from different background and worked in different industries (judging from the direction they were heading) yet came together to play games. it was interesting and it was something that i probably will not be able to see happening amongst singaporeans, apart from national service and even then, it was a case of a mandatory requirement and not voluntary as what i saw here. and from this, i learned about togetherness without class-distinction, of social support, of playing together, of coming together to celebrate the simple fact that they are a family, away from their family. and from here, i also learned about the power of games and its ability to bring people together.

• from the south asians working and (presumably) staying in the construction sites, i have seen many of them harvesting little fishes from the canal for food previously and i have seen how they lived modestly, ate simply and still are cheerful as they go about their routines of living their life after work. and for many, if not all of these individuals, they had left everything behind, embraced the new environment and make the best of their stay here in the most frugal manner in order to support themselves and their families back home. and most importantly, i see them having fun as they went about doing their daily little activities, be it harvesting fishes, eating or simply sitting by the roadside and enjoying the stars. from this, i learned about adaptiveness, frugality, resourcefulness and making the best out of life. it reminded me of this little phrase, when life throws lemon at you, make lemonade.

these are things we don't see frequently nor being publicized in the media. they are not newsworthy. but these close-up views and insights into their lives allowed me to learn some stuff from them that also made me very thankful to them. they are, in essence, the modern version of the samsui woman and they share the same motivations and characteristics as the samsui woman of days passed. do they not also embody the values of handwork, frugality, sacrifices, strength and if i may add, resilience? are they also not the silent teachers amongst us?

well, of course you may argue that i am reading too much cos these people are just simply coming here to earn a living and then to move on. and from this perspective, do not deserve being framed in such noble manner, much less a silent teacher! perhaps so, but certainly they do deserve our respect as much as those in the teaching profession right? and oh, i was also reminded of this one other buddhist phrase i read somewhere - that the teacher will appear when the student is ready. and i dare say, lessons are all over for us to learn, we just need to open our eyes and our hearts to it. for when we can do so, life is full of lessons to be learned.

and for that moments sunday morning, i learned a lot from these south asians.

thank you.