Friday Reflections

Two Sides of Success

This is the most intensely dialogued/debated Friday Reflections of all times. Readers, especially Parents, really got involved in expressing their honest views of the subject; some agreed , the others agreed to disagree and some strongly disagreed. Please read Readers' comments ( #1) from the original publication to appreciate the full dialogue. (originally published January 10, 2013)

POINT TO PONDER

Nothing succeeds like success. -Alexandre Dumas

 

STORY LINE by Rajiv Shah

Jimmy Chin was like many kids his age heading into college; the prodigal son encouraged to live up to the standards set forth by his loving parents. Jimmy thought he had three choices in life: to be a doctor, lawyer, or a businessman. When he went to Carleton College he majored in International Relations and Asian Studies. 

    Upon graduation he moved to the bay area and was looking for a job. But he admitted he wasn't passionate about it. His mind was on what he fell in love with growing up and that he fostered while in college - skiing and mountain climbing. 

    So he told his parents that before going to work he would take a year off and go climbing. Chin would later say that he had fulfilled his parents worst nightmare and after a year it did not end. He decided to keep going, keep climbing and in that time lived in national parks out of his car. 

    He never went to find that job but lived out of his car and continued to climb for a total of seven years. He found a community of climbers that had the same love for the mountains as he did. 

    Then on one trip a friend of Chin's bought a camera. He was hoping to take some photos on the mountain that he could sell to magazines. Jimmy Chin took one photo on his roll of photos and it was Jimmy's photo that was purchased for the whopping sum of $500. 

    Jimmy thought that if he could sell just one photo a month, he could conceivably afford to keep climbing comfortably for the rest of his life. So acquired a camera and started photographing his climbing expeditions, capturing climbing culture and the magnificent terrain that he would face. 

    Jimmy grew from that initial $500 sale and it was National Geographic that came calling for his services. He became a regular contributor to the publication. Next came North Face, Outside Magazine, and Men's Journal. Chin would be voted as one the most eligible bachelor's in People Magazine. 

 

REFLECTION 

 I wonder how we would look at Jimmy Chin's story if he were not a National Geographic photographer but a young man still living out of the back of his car, having the time of his life climbing mountains.

What's interesting is that it seems Jimmy going after what he wants may only be valid because he's now a National Geographic photographer. That's why his story is being passed on, even why I'm telling it to you. The result now justifies the process. It says something about what we're conditioned to focus on, where we as a society place value.

 

The point I bring up is if he was still living out of his car, without working with Nat Geo but enjoying his life skiing and climbing, would his life be seen as a waste? Would we be telling his story?

And in our own lives do we pursue that passion for an external result or because is it is internally nourishing? Do we measure ourselves against external standards, and are those standards our own or belong to someone else?

 

The pursuit of passion is what you would continue to do if there were no accolades or money or reaffirmation from peers. It comes from within. It comes even when others don't support or approve. It challenges the way we are taught things are supposed to go. 

 

What's inspiring is Jimmy Chin did it without any of the results that eventually came later. Seven years living out of a car because he loved what he was doing... And I am guessing he'd still be pursuing his passion even if Nat Geo had not come calling. 

Most important business relations are personal ones.

 

 Points to Ponder:

Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born. - Anais Nin

Story Line:

Hello Manila, we are coming in. There are disruptions in our onward trip to Malaysia due to the Volcano eruption in Bali. The airport has opened today and the first opportunity for us to get out is Manila.

And thus changed the direction of our trip in Asia which was originally planned months ago to attend a wedding of a longtime friend’s son in Penang. Since we were going that far from home, we had decided to spend a few days in Bali. During our stay, Mt. Agung, an active volcano, got into action and changed plans of over 100,000 tourists there.

Our friends from Manila responded: Welcome, We are looking forward to you coming over.

I met Filex Wu in 1980 during my expat assignment for Raytheon Semiconductor in Manila. His wife Beth and their children have been our family’s close friends since then. Sunil Banwari is the person I met in 1999 at Intel and also worked together for several years after that. We also got to know his wife Lavina during that time. They are currently expats in Manila.

Within minutes of receiving our message from Bali, both families sent us messages asking to stay with them in Manila. We spent 11 days with them. We shared many memories, had big fiestas, enjoyed our long conversations in Manila traffic, and shared beautiful experiences of Philippines and its friendly hospitable people. (Captured in the video link on top of the document).

Lavina arranged a tour of Intramurous for all of us with a guide who gave wonderful educational perspective of Philippine history from the Filipino point of view, not the occupiers' point of view shared in other travel guides.

Another very touching moment during the visit was when one evening Beth pulled out a carefully preserved Album and showed us pictures of a visit to Manila Zoo with our children in 1983, our many outings together, family celebrations through the years and every letter that our family had written to them. Here is one from our daughter to their children.

My wife’s childhood friend Helen Tan, one of the two persons responsible for introducing us when we were teenagers came over and rekindled fond memories.

For Luisa and I, the trip was like Yesterday Once More: Meeting longtime friends, visiting places from the past, memories of our wonderful times in Manila.

Reflection: The entire experience in Manila brought back a memory of a very important lesson I had learned in my younger days from my father: Most important business relations are personal ones. My childhood years were filled with meeting people from all walks of life; the people my father had met in his business dealings, from his theatrical interests, during his travels and from his childhood and college days.

Our original trip to Singapore and Malaysia was to spend time with close to 50 people that we had met in university, during 40 years of work in high tech industry and in my various travels. Irony of fate or what, the volcano blew our trip in other direction but we still ended up being with friends.