The other day when office resumed work after the Chinese New Year break, one of my engineers whom I consider to be most promising tendered his resignation. I was significantly shocked by his decision since we just had a performance review with him and offered him a very substantial salary increment.
He explained that when he was back home in Penang for the CNY holidays, he was bombarded with strong words by parents and relatives who pressurized him to return to West Malaysia to work so as to be closed to home. They even said something like..."If you continue to remain away from home leaving your aging parents alone back home, this is considered not filial". He told me that his other older brothers are working in various parts of West Malaysia and that leave him to take care of his parents.
Secondly, he told me that his teacher-girl friend is now posted to Johor and he wanted to be closer to her. On whether he was afraid his gf might be "won" over by another man, he said that anything could happen and it is better that he stays closed-by to pre-empt any such change of heart. I was thinking - If there is true love, distance doesn't matter. But then, everyone views relationship differently. Statement of this nature would not necessarily help.
One thing I was very pleased to hear. He told me his gf is a strong Christian and he has also decided to be a Christian. I assured him that that was a very important and wise decision and such decision would ensure them an enduring husband-wife relationship if ever they ever decide to become husband and wife.
Already, he told me that he has started facing unfriendly gestures from family members because of his decision to become Christian though he has not officially announced his conversion. As usual, his parents were worried that their son would not be there to hold the joss-stick at their funeral.
I assured him that the best way to convince the parents of his filial piety and love for parents is by his continuous respect and love to his parents and other members of his family. God would work in a special way to open up minds and change attitude.
I have heard many beautiful stories of how from one member of a family becoming a Christian and ultimately all become Christians because of what they saw in the person's total changed life.
I was very sad that he is leaving the company. But life goes on and it is normal that people move on and begin another phase of lives elsewhere.
I pray that his new found faith will be a blessing to people whom he comes into contact with just as he has been a blessing to our company.
2 comments:
Hi dad... sorry to hear about the loss of such an excellent staff member. I truly empathise with you... we had the same feeling when one of best staff member also tendered her resignation.
Hey dad... I wanted to ask you this question for some time: Why were you so determined to return to Sabah to work and settle down? If not for the bond to work for JKR, would you have been open to live and work anywhere else?
Before I pen this reply, I have given some serious thought and reflection on your question. Honestly from what I can recall, the idea of settling down in another country never crossed my mind. Of course, the scholarship bond made it easier for me to decide against this idea. Somehow, my attachment to Sabah and home was very strong. My plan had always been to come back to Sabah and in particular KK to pursue my dream as a civil engineer. This was also because of the fact that I had worked in JKR before I went for further study and had developed a liking to come back to work in JKR, this time as an engineer.
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