COOPERATION IS ABOUT US

I was walking around the children’s playground  in Vileyka, Belarus and suddenly a sculpture caught my eye. The sculpture comprises a whole family including a dog, a cat, a mouse and a huge turnip . That triggered off memories of how my children would ask me to read the fairy tale ‘The Enormous Turnip’. Little did I know at that time that this is a Russian fairy tale. So it all made sense why the sculpture is there.

"The Enormous Turnip" was written by Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy.

It is a progressive story in which a grandfather plants a turnip, which grows so large that it takes many to pull it up - the grandfather (deduska), the grandmother (babuska), the granddaughter (vnuchca), the female-dog (zhuchka), the female-cat (koshka) and finally the female-mouse (myshka). The humour or moral of the story is that only with the help of the weakest and smallest creature (the mouse) can the giant turnip or radish (repka) be pulled up.

It is all about co-operation and that if we all work together, we can do anything.

Summer had finally arrived and with it the much awaited glorious sunshine. The whole character of the Irish society changes  as people make the most out of the great weather which can be here today and gone tomorrow.  Many will head out to the beach or engage in outdoor activities like cycling or hiking. People painting their houses or mowing the lawns is a common sight. 

Having come from a society where the individual is driven to compete to survive, I find that the community spirit over here is very strong. People here co-operate and do community work on a regular basis, even more so in summer because we can go outdoors and work in the fine weather. Co-operation in a community setting is something very new to me, where everyone contributes to a common good and in return reaps the rewards.

Martin A. Nowak, writer for Scientific American and author of “Why We Help: The Evolution of Co-operation” points out that selfless behaviour is a pervasive phenomenon. Life to Nowak is not just a struggle for survival but rather a ‘snuggle for survival.’

A case in point is the local community garden which I am part of. We grow vegetables and flowers and we meet twice a week to mind what we have planted. But the best part is members who pop by the garden other than the scheduled times will water all the beds as well. The group also organises an open day where the public would be invited to a barbeque. Each of us will bring some kind of meat or sausage or fish. For the past few years I have been showcasing Malaysian satay complete with peanut gravy, onions, cucumber slices and ketupat.

The spirit of co-operation generates several outcomes.

Firstly it is a given that we reciprocate good deeds.

I share a garden bed with a fellow gardening enthusiast. When I was away on a trip and there was fear of bad weather, she covered my plants with protective fleece. There was no danger of my crops being destroyed by frost and I came home to thriving seedlings. Likewise, when my friend is busy, I’ll help water her crops. During harvesting season, we share the produce.

Next we also have indirect reciprocity. Indirect reciprocity simply means if you build a reputation of helping others, others will help you. One example is the East Clare Co-operative Society that runs many programmes for free or for minimal payment. Such programmes range from cooking classes to hobby crafts.

Recently, the director of the co-operative invited me to teach volunteers how to do Sugan chair weaving. So we spent a number of hours on a Saturday morning putting new life into old chairs. The results were amazing. Although the participants could not bring the chairs home with them, they felt proud because they had learnt a new skill and they had contributed something to the co-operative.  Every chair that was painstakingly woven by a participant now stands proudly in the co-op cafe.

When we use the word networking we think of it as getting connected with people to get something in return, especially in career advancement. That is networking for a motive.

But when we co-operate, there is an unwritten code of support and sharing within the group. Co-operation results in networking at a different level. Everyone brings with him life’s experience and perspective. When we put that together as a group, it becomes a powerhouse of knowledge. For cooperation to work, everyone has to be an active member of the team and do what they agree to do.

I guess what I enjoy most about co-operation is that it is not about me, myself and I. It is about us and there’s a good feeling that comes with it.

THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE NEW STRAITS TIMES MALAYSIA ON 25 JUNE 2017  http://digital.nstp.com.my/nst/books/nstnews/2017/20170625nstnews/index.html#/25/

A MATTER OF LUCK?

When we receive excellent news, sometimes we wonder if it is true. This was what happened to Veronique Jacquet when she heard the news on the local radio that she had won a Michelin star this year. It was highly impossible as her restaurant didn't fit the criteria of a gourmet restaurant at all.

Mrs. Jacquet runs Le Bouche à Oreille in Bourges in central France. It is a modest, lunch-only bistro with 20 tables and a clientele mostly of local workers. Even the cook works part time and Mrs. Jacquet herself is the only other member of the staff. And so it turned out to be a technical mistake as the restaurant that actually won the Michelin star is about 120 miles away in the village of Boutervilliers and has the same name.

Then there is this bizarre story of Frane Selak, a Croatian music teacher who escaped death when a train he was on fell into the lake. After that, he survived a car crash, allegedly fell out of the plane, and landed in a stack of hay, while 19 passengers tragically died.  Finally, Frane in 2003 won about €800,000 in a lottery.

There’s also this expression “the luck of the Irish” and I thought it meant that the people    from Ireland are lucky. However, according to Edward T. O’Donnell, an Associate Professor of History at Holy Cross College and author of "1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish American History," the term is not Irish in origin.

"During the gold and silver rush years in the second half of the 19th century, a number of the most famous and successful miners were of Irish and Irish American birth....Over time this association of the Irish with mining fortunes led to the expression 'luck of the Irish.' Of course, it carried with it a certain tone of derision, as if to say, only by sheer luck, as opposed to brains, could these fools succeed."

The Malay proverb ‘Durian Runtuh’ means a windfall. Literally it is an avalanche of durians. Even now I dream of eating the rich and creamy durian. But then again I digress.

Every so often we wish for nice things to happen : winning the lottery especially. I have seen so many hopefuls at the supermarket counter buying lottery tickets. The idea of getting big money at an affordable price is too hard to resist. Raffles are also very popular here and for 5 euro you get 3 chances of winning prizes. Usually they are done to raise funds for a club or a specific cause. You can sense the spirit of hope and expectation in the air. However, we hear of many saying  ' I never win anything' maybe because in any draw, the winners are few and the disappointed many.

There are some people who are always on a winning streak - so we say that lady luck is smiling on them. Or grudgingly we mutter beneath our breath 'some people have all the luck'

Tempting though it may be, I do not buy lotteries or gamble in the hope of striking it rich.

In fact, about 70 percent of people who win a lottery or get a big windfall actually end up broke in a few years, according to the National Endowment for Financial Education. Scary but true.

I used to enter many competitions because I enjoyed solving puzzles and coming up with creative slogans. To that end I did win many holiday trips abroad and electrical appliances. Now I've passed on that mantel to my son.

I remember once when we released a fire lantern into the sky. The host of the party asked us to scribble our hopes on the lantern. We decided on ‘Good health’ while others wrote ‘Money, money, money’.

Luck is fortune which is an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result in one way rather than another.

Blessing on the other hand is the formal act of approving and of divine grace. So, I attribute all that I had, have or will have to being blessed rather than being lucky. It lies in the difference in the mind set and heart where I do not leave happy events to chance. It is also an attitude of gratitude. When we know that we are blessed, then it is so easy for us to give to others.

So what happened in the end to the bistro that was told it had received the Michelin star?

When Jacquet’s cook Penelope Salmon was asked whether she ever dreamt of receiving a Michelin star, she said, ‘No, not at all. I cook with my heart.’

The last time I heard was that the lunch spot has received really good reviews on Google.

THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE NEW STRAITS TIMES MALAYSIA ON 11 JUNE 2017  https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnists/2017/06/247685/matter-luck