MAKING CHOICES

Listening to Elton John’s Goodbye, yellow brick road on the radio brings back pleasant memories. It was the song to sing during the 70s when my sister and I cycled to school, when I met up with my classmates and when I needed a break from doing homework. We were living in a shop house at that time and there were two shops selling music cassettes and records in the vicinity so the song blared through the loudspeakers in its heyday. I knew the words by heart but I now wonder whether I really understood what they meant. At that time, it sufficed that the tune was catchy enough.

The yellow brick road appears in the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. It is the road for Dorothy to follow if she wishes to reach the Emerald City which is built of green glass, emeralds and other jewels. The Emerald City symbolises a fraudulent world and does not have true value.

At some point or other we work towards reaching this Emerald City.

For some, purchasing only branded items would signify that they have reached the Emerald City.

Whether it was a decade ago or now, branded goods still play a very big role when we want to be associated with the uptown lifestyle. Most of us love beautiful and expensive things. This is absolutely alright until we become obsessed with wearing designer labels and nothing else and judge others who are not like us. We were visiting the Spanish Steps in Rome when my son told me his boss had asked him to buy a Prada bag. So we went to the most famous fashion streets in Rome: Via Condotti, Via Borgognona and Via Frattina. In our sensible clothes and shoes, we did not exactly look like potential haute couture customers, so needless to say no stylishly coiffured sales assistant in black stilettos rushed over to serve us.

For others, accumulating accolades and awards would mean that success is in their hands.

There is nothing wrong with advancing oneself or getting into prestigious universities but it is very annoying to have to put up with people who constantly boast about their own accomplishments or their children’s accomplishments. These people are also extremely competitive and they love to talk about themselves, their worlds and their views. My driving instructor once told me that one learner driver failed six times on the road because he would not follow instructions. That particular learner driver had a doctorate from a renowned university and thought he knew the rules of the road better than the driving instructor. A well qualified person who is modest and unassuming is a breath of fresh air and a real gem.

Then , there are some who want to reach the Emerald City by riding on others. These are the shallow sycophants and the opportunists who would work to selfishly advance their own careers without putting in their fair share of work. I remember someone asking me to edit a book. What I later found out was that she would ‘dictate’ some ideas to me but I was to write out the whole book. Her name would then be published as the writer and I would be the editor. I was aghast that such an idea could have been hatched in the first place.

If there is a physical and temporal emerald city, then there must be dreams and visions and values that are good and rewarding. Hard work, discipline and determination are values to be proud of. One of the students who attended a MUET seminar that I once conducted had just written to me.

“I'm Adzim and I hope that you still remember me...After a series of failures in my attempt to achieve Band 4, I finally scored Band 5 for my MUET (mid-year 2011)...Just want to let you know and I have included my results in the attachment file.”

Walt Disney said, ‘If you do not have dreams, how are you going to make your dream come true!" and "All dreams are possible if we have the courage to pursue them!"

Staying true to who we are will help us take stock and consciously shed off the trappings that we pick up along the way. It is exactly a year since I opted out for early retirement. Someone told me that I would die of boredom and that I would be running back to the office after six months. All I can say is that nothing could match the sheer satisfaction of my first year of living life in all its simplicity, with time to call my own.

As I sit in the car and listen to the rest of Elton John’s song, I am glad I took that decisive step and never looked back.