Here is an end… and here is the beginning. Beginning of an end… and an end to the wait.When on August 8th, the pilot of the airline will announce the take-off of the flight, it will mark my take-off to a new future…; and on the next day morning when he will announce to the passengers and crew to prepare for landing… it will mark my landing on the first steps of that new future…
… there is no return; there is no looking back. The resignation letter has received its final imprint of signature… from the man who had to nod his head to let me go to chase my dream, causing a crack on his own dream… a man to whom I am greatly obliged for his role in transforming me to the person I am today – a role that I regard as phenomenal; a man whose patience in tolerating my limitations and encouraging my strength which made all the difference (I wonder if he ever felt any anger on me during the last sixteen years at all!!! Except for an afternoon in 1992, there wasn’t a single day when he had expressed his frustration on me, nor a frown on his face… it’s been a smooth sale… a real long and smooth sale!!!)
My resignation letter now has received its final imprint of signature…signaling the departure of an era that began in June of 1991 – one which saw hills and valleys of success and failures… luckily though more of the former than the latter with the blessings of Providence and prayers of a few kind hearts…
My resignation letter now has received its final imprint of signature……signaling the ushering of a new era… beginning August 08, 2008 – one which is filled with dreams and hopes and embroidered with thoughts of uncertainties and challenges.
Of the past, I have in mind the picture of that young boy who had to draw his moustache with an eyebrow pencil to make it ‘appear’ in the picture when applying for a passport. I have in mind the picture of a young man who was carried on the shoulders of his colleagues through the banquet hall of the hotel following a successful event. I have in mind the picture of that young professional criss-crossing Middle East & Africa developing pipeline of talents. There are many pictures … many images tagged to different voice… I am sure they will all come with me to build in me that nostalgia in the silent moments of my future…
And of the future, I have in mind the picture of that little office that we will set up in the coming months… that very little one… that speaks for itself the size of our organization and the measure of our little steps that we are taking into our future. But I have in mind too the picture of that office, with the moving images of our young and dynamic staff walking through the cubicles that has glazing steel frames and sand-blasted glass dividers…with the voice of telephones ringing in this chamber and the other chamber and in the other chamber… with the golden sign of our organization shining on the wall…the image of our office in 2015. I have in mind too the picture of that evening… the grand celebration of our tenth anniversary in August 2018… that grand evening with loud music and great people from different walks of life… our first clients to our latest beneficiaries and well-wishers… the grand banquet of five course meal… the display of little pieces of memories from our initial steps… the first cheque… the first flier… the first registrations.. the first program… the first images…
I hold those pictures close to my heart – no.. in my heart… as I will climb the stairs to the airplane… the stairs to the future… as it will take off in August.
With different strokes of patience and with different colours of perseverance… we will paint that picture in the wide canvas of our real life…
