big world, big heart

1 Kings 4:29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. (NKJV)

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (NKJV)

We always remember Soloman as the guy whom God gave loads of wisdom to. While that is true, sometimes we forget that He also gave a lot a lot of riches and the largeness of heart. This is so that he doesn't become proud or stingy.

ON a relatively unrelated point, today i attended a career talk by Boston Consulting Group (BCG). They are one of the 3 largest consulting firms in the world. And boy, i must say that i'm impressed.

Firstly, they are truly global, having 60 offices all over the world. But they really made an effort not to seem so unreachable by bringing along all the NUS and ONE ex-NTU partner along. Once again, i'm reminded that my world is really large.

Prior to this talk, i've been hearing about how it's really different studying overseas. The people that one meets, along with the experiences of being alone far from home, the intellectual banter that takes place, class discussions for really what they are (and not a contest to see who gets more participation marks) or even just hanging out with someone who comes from another country and speaks with another accent. My little world is slowly, (minimally u mite say), but surely growing.

Adding to that, having a Japanese roomie has also helped me to appreciate the idea of home, while reminding me that i belong to an increasingly mobile generation. It also made me wonder what it'l be like to venture so far without your family. And to add to the trauma, going to a place where the language, culture, food, climate, etc, is totally different. It really made me admire her. I thank God that while i continue to live in my room, not only my privacy doesn't feel invaded, i am enriched by the experience.

Coming back to the talk. So i was really impressed. Cos these people are obviously very smart, yet so unassuming. They don't try to bombard you with things like how it's so prestigious, u mite earn a lot of money, travel a lot, but rather, they present to you the facts in simple English, making little jokes that don't try to blow you away, but just to perk you a little. Everything's so natural. And in the midst, their love for the job and the experience they are living just by working for BCG just oozes. These are people who have souls. They love their work, and their life as well.

To be fair, i didn't attend any other talk prior to this. So perhaps everyone is so impressive i dunno. But from what i gather, maybe not. But i really liked everything about it. The technical side, like the presentation of the work they do, the kind of culture, the clients, the long hours in the 1st 2 years especially, the amount of travel such that you MIGHT just begin to dread it...i also liked the soft side of things. Like how the manager was dealing with the Q & A, but the junior associates (from as new as 6 months) respond when they feel a need to. the general feel was good.

So in my excitement, when my parents picked me up later in the night, i tried to relate the experience to them. This includes how BCG is like a big firm and they are oh so cool, blah blah. And naturally, i wanted them to go, "wow! really? that great!" or something to that effect. But that was not the response i got. i related this case BCG talked about during the presentation. It was about some really large petroleum firm that approached BCG to think of ways for them to cut costs by 50%, despite them already being the market leader in the region. And my dad started talking about how all the little convenience stores of Mobil in Singapore are being taken over by NTUC and how that's an example of a strategic move.

my 1st reaction was to go like, "Pa, it's different, the company that i'm talking about is really huge!" i immediately thought that he didn't understand.

But my sis (much later in the night) reminded me that i belong to a privileged generation that has the opportunity to understand and to realise that we belong to a world. And not just Singapore. Our parents on the other hand, were not privy to such opportunities.

I haven't seen the world. Nor experienced the kind of competition that will present itself should one be thrown in a foreign place. Not even close. Therefore, I can't even begin to imagine the kind of distances that may be faced by children who spend a full 4 years abroad and return in hope of revamping the family business, or simply to relate the bigness of the world to their parents. How?

I dunno. But this awareness, along with the constant reminder that wisdom (I happen to think that realising that there's loads more to learn is wisdom) needs to be accompanied by the 'bigness of heart' humbles me. And made me realise that whether or not that 'big world' exists, they are the ones who gave me the chance to even begin to find out more about it.




*on another note, parents have fully accepted that audit's not for me. And i tink that for them, it's a rather significant step to take. they are pretty cool eh.