Be Free !!!

I picked up this card in Bleinheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, earlier this month. Given that the elephant is a bit of a family mascot, it is not unnatural for this card to catch my eye, especially the warm image of a child running into the arms of a parent: probably the safest place in the world for the youngling. It was rather apt considering this was purchased at the ancestral home of a man who made his country, and to an extent the continent and the world, safer. The card is entitled “And as I learn ...” which was a bit off, I felt. It could have been “... running into safety”.

I am now on my way to the Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. I have meetings with various government officials in Riyadh, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. This region of the world has unfortunately been (for thousands of years) and remain in conflict with each other and the world. So, safety is high on my mind now.

And in the front page of today’s Straits Times, a harrowing caption, “ Mom, I love you and Dad so much. I’m dying because I can’t breathe”. This were the last words in an SMS that 26 year old Pan Tri Tha My sent to her mom before dying in an unventilated trailer that was smuggling her into the UK. It is tragic she died this way but at least in those final moments, she managed to communicate with her parents, no doubt her place of safety. So, I pray her soul is at peace.

Back home, this morning we met with Tracy and her boyfriend Pedro (who works in the UK) and they are now contemplating of coming back to Asia having appreciated the potential of this region and having just completed a week of vacation in Vietnam, they were thinking of doing business in Vietnam.

The world is full of contradictions like this. People criss-crossing the world to forge a brighter future. The Chinese have a history of emigrating in search of a better life. This type of migration was known as “tao sheng huo”, which roughly translates to seeking a life. It is all the more poignant that in such a search, some lose their lives. But more of such emigration will continue. For there remains this fire of purpose that burns in each of us: to build a better a tomorrow.

It is for this reason, I know, that you are both overseas. To gain knowledge from the world’s most learned. And to do so in places that will better help you understand the world at large. There is however one big advantage you have: safety. Our arms are always open. Like Leonardo Da Vinci who was safe in the employment of the Medicis in Florence, and therefore free to give full rein to his creative genius without fear, you too are free to make the most of your time abroad.

You need not worry about what others think. 

It's the heart afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance
It's the dream afraid of waking
That never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken
Who cannot seem to give
And the soul afraid of dyin'
That never learns to live

Try new things. It doesn’t matter at all if you fail in these. Can you imagine how many sketches Leonardo has abandoned and how bulbs that didn’t light up for Edison? Yet the world remembers them today for the geniuses that they are. So free yourself. Don’t be too hard on yourself: Go where you want. Eat what you want. Wear what you want. 

Because unlike the poor Vietnamese girl, you have a real place of safety and our safety platform is not a net (from which you find hard to crawl out from), but rather its a trampoline... that will safely catch you when you fall and bounce you back up again. And you know how trampoline works: the higher a height you fall from, the higher the bounce! So, be free, my darling.