Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over.
– Stephen King, author
November 3 2023 was a day this column came to life, a birthing of sorts.
On that day, the spectacular International Business Review Borneo Awards 2023 which was held at the Riverside Majestic Hotel in Kuching, Sarawak saw 15 award recipients being honoured for corporate excellence, government services delivery and leadership legacy. We had 500 high level corporate and government decision makers from Sarawak, Senate President Senator Tan Sri Dr. Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar and even diplomats who flew in from Kuala Lumpur to attend the prestigious event with Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg being the guest of honour.
It was also the day this column was launched as a book, with a special video tribute to New Sarawak Tribune and its CEO Datuk Dr. Jeniri Amir and a wonderful speech given by Rajah Murugaiah, associate editor at New Sarawak Tribune.
You can view both the launch video and Rajah’s speech about the book by clicking this link https://youtu.be/GUGd-7z44us.
Please do watch it, for Rajah speaks very eloquently but more than that, you will admire his courage, resolve and strength to come on stage that day and speak because his wife had passed away early in the morning from a long battle with an illness. Most people would crumble and forget the world at a time like that, but that day I saw the iron will of a man who keeps a promise made. He came, delivered the speech with a calm and composed demeanour although the next day was the cremation.
I have never seen so much strength and professionalism in one man and all of us have the utmost respect for what we witnessed. We still talk about it in awe at the office. Thank you, Rajah. And God bless you always for the kindness in your heart to not let us down at what must have been your darkest moment.
Rajah asked in his speech how on earth I could write a book within two years while he is still struggling to get his out over so many years.
The secret is he did not have a Rajah to push him to birth a story every week like he pushed me. Every Thursday I will get a slight warning, wrapped very sweetly in kindly words … ‘are you working on your article, Dato?…. and I will go … omg omg … ok ok … and I will tell my EA to stop everyone from bothering me for one hour (like what is happening today right now as I type furiously to meet my deadline for tomorrow’s column).
Everyone has a superpower. Mine are words.
Writing about my experiences, my life, my understandings, my perspectives and my rise from the many falls has been therapeutic not just for me, but for many people who take courage from reading something not many people talk about.
It removes the loneliness that they are not alone in feeling terrified when darkness descends.
It’s these moments of connection that makes all the writing worthwhile.
I always ask myself this. The Book of Life – do I write it or does it write me?
Am I merely a ship that is being propelled in its journey by powerful unseen forces of an ocean that connects all of us?
Or am I the captain of the ship powering my way through the storms and calms and determining my destination?
Maybe the answer lies somewhere between both.
We are all given a lifetime to make a dent in the universe and we all do.
In our own way, we are supernovas blazing trails through the lives of people we come in contact with. We are all authors in the book of our lives, writing a page a day, telling our stories daily.
The Looking Glass hopes to catch a fleeting moment of that journey and immortalise it.
In these columns over the last two years, I hope you have been able to relate, maybe laugh out loud at times, shed a tear a bit, nod your head along and feel a kinship with me because it is as much your story.
We all have similar experiences, similar wins, similar losses. If ever you get a copy of the book, I really hope you have felt me reaching out, holding your hand and touching your heart as you read it.
That itself would have made this journey all worthwhile. To have made a dent in your universe, for better.
I know I thought myself into where I am today. The book, the stories, this life.
Nothing is random. So, here’s to us, our heart songs and soul experiences. The best is yet to be.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune. Feedback can reach the writer at beatrice@ibrasiagroup.com
