Chapter 21: If Only We Can Change History?

The renovation of my parents' house in Likas was finally completed late last year. After my mother passed away in April 2012, the family made the decision to renovate the home. Today, it's occupied by my youngest brother's family and my sister.

 

During the renovation process, we went through many old belongings to decide what to keep and what to let go. I was especially delighted to receive some old photographs that had been stored in the house - images I had nearly forgotten, but which brought back a flood of memories.

Left to right: My cousin, me, my second brother and my eldest brother.

 

One of the most treasured items I received during the house renovation was an old photograph taken in 1954, when I was just three years old (second from left). It is now the oldest photo of me that I own. The picture features my eldest brother (now deceased), my second brother, and a cousin of mine.

 

The cousin, Joseph Yee, is about the same age as me. He is the eldest son of my maternal uncle, whom I mentioned in Chapter 16. At one point, he worked as an architectural draftsman alongside my second brother. However, he left the profession long ago and now runs a coffee shop in Inanam.

 

While it's true that Joseph has many step-siblings - children of his father from other relationships - he has chosen to exclude them from the Gomorun family genealogy, including only the children born to his own mother. As I've noted before, the decline in his family's well-being seemed to coincide with his father's growing indulgence in relationships with multiple women.

 

I am reminded of a passage from Neson Mandella's autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom" where he writes about a classmate in Clarkebury Institute:

"She was an extraordinarily clever and gifted person, whose potential was limited because of her family's meagre resources. This was an all too typical South African story. It was not lack of ability that limited my people, but lack of opportunity".

When Joseph was asked to prepare the family genealogy, I wonder - was there still a trace of bitterness? Did the recollections of past events, and how they might have shaped the course of his life, still linger?

Today, while reading a devotional titled "The Purpose of History", I was struck again by how deeply our past can affect us. History is full of lessons - real, personal, and practical - passed down through the experience of those who walked the path before us.

 

A single lapse in judgment, or a moment of reckless indulgence, can alter the direction of a life forever.