My dad is the biggest inspiration in my life, as far as how to be a man and an adult. He is responsible, reliable, mentally strong, and an extremely selfless person who will go the extra mile for everyone.
His biggest influence on me came during my National Service days. I have never thought of myself as a mentally strong person. At various point of my Sispec trainee days, things got so tough that I thought of just calling it quit. Perhaps just go Out-of-Course like 1/3 of every other ASLC cadets, I mean like, it's between crawling in jungle mud vs sitting in aircon room watching TV everyday.
My dad, unlike many other parents from China, has never undermined the importance of contributing to the nation (even as a foreigner at that time). He often told me if given a chance, he would love to be enlisted for a few months, and serve the nation like every other Singaporean son. And I know he meant that. Throughout my trainee days, he always tried to instill positive energy in me, and when he felt that I was mentally shaken, he would tell me "As a man you have to finish what you started". This phrase stuck with me till this day.
Some days back during a gathering with China relatives, an uncle brought up the topic of National Service as his son was recently enlisted. He was shocked to hear that I had to go through Sispec. He proudly told us how he managed to down-pes for his son before enlistment through specialist letter, and how his son is able to book out everyday as a clerk. He went on to express how he felt that NS wastes 2 years of his son's prime and the delay in academic growth etc. As I reflected on this incident, it made me wonder what we are teaching our younger generation. Won't setting such a precedence make them instinctively find ways out of a hardship every time faced with one? And furthermore I believed that character grooming is way more important that academic achievements. I also pondered on whether I would have quitted my training if he was my dad. I will never know but the answer is probably yes.
My dad is no longer with me today, and I dearly miss him. But I know that he is always looking down at me and I hope that I am able to make him proud.
