He taught his teacher about living the life

My PhD student is a Syrian. He worked in Saudi Arabia before coming to Malaysia. His PhD supervisor was someone else a year before he finally became my student and since had submitted the thesis for examination.

          Starting from the time I knew him until today (almost three years had passed), only God knows of how many bad incidences that took place in his life. He is a husband and a father of 4 children, and all of them are here with him. His country is at war and his hometown was at wrecked that he can't go back there. During those 3 years, he had once broken his right hand for landed on the floor after trying to change lamp bulb. Being a dentist who basically worked with right hand, that period of time say a lot about his future. Thank God, the hand can be fixed. Apart from that, he still have elderly parents at home, who are now shifted to Jordan. That was after so much of demanding from him.

         His elder brother passed away last two years ago due to cancer, leaving behind a wife and children. The brother was a surgeon. 

          My student, ASA, was here while these occurred.  

         ASA is not a man without an opinion. He has a lot to say, but probably because these things keep happening one after another, he gets used to it and rarely mentioned about this. 

         Once a while, I would ask about his family back home and he would eventually leave my room with red eyes. Me, I would be dumbfounded by him handling all these and not showing any sign of depression or lack of willingness to go on fighting the world. I then, would be thinking about our own Malaysians who would kill themselves on the road for the sake of having fun or would end up at the Pusat Serenti.

         Being opinionated and coming from different fields of study, we used to lock horns over many things, especially regarding his thesis writing. It is hard if he too has to work with an opinionated supervisor. For me, this was a process of teaching and "agree to disagree", which I do not welcome much but I appreciated it a lot. 

          I am telling this story not to degrade him what-so-ever. It is just a story sharing to let others know that we can be the best in the worst condition. It is the matter of choosing.

          He is teaching me as much as I think I had taught him. 

Can't make everyone happy....

The dry season is good in a way. Dry and tasteless. Whoa! I started the morning after a long hiatus, by being sarcastic. Excuse me, that is not "me", but "my demon" inside. 

Well, for the past few months, there is one girl in the office who felt threatened by me (unnecessarily) had kept posted on her Facebook that someone had done bad for her. I guess she had been talking about me because she was talking about my achievement which somehow reduced her popularity in the workplace. The last sentence was my assumption because she never comes clean about it neither do I. As my gesture of disapproval, I just reserved my interaction with her. Nevertheless, I will not argue just to prove my point since it might severed any type of relationship that one may have. That is my way of finding peace with oneself.  

But, anyway, I have been working very hard starting from the year of 2011, do not just sit idle in my not so soft chair which means that whatever that transpires out of it is the gift from Him. It is a sunnatullah. You work, you get. Although sometimes, we may work but do not get. It is another story that will need another post on it.

But then again, by taking this out loud, I should remember that she is "the sets of questions sent by Him". Probably to teach me something. Then, I should deal with her in a good way that will eventually benefit me hereafter. 

Anyhow, let's just take this lightly and remember that world consists many types of people and not everyone will be happy with us. The one that we need to serve before anything is Him.