When I took up a pledge in the TLC Promise Me Campaign, little did I know that I will be the true beneficiary – the one receiving as much as I give, if not more. My pledge is relatively simple compared to others. I will have to get a gym ball and present it to the supposed-beneficiary, Mr Lim. Mr Lim is a stroke patient undergoing rehabilitation at NASAM Ampang, and the gym ball is supposed to help him in his rehabilitation exercises.
Confession to make: I grudged a little (only a little!) at first. I mean, I’ve got to take one-day leave from my work, wake up at 7am, and drive across KL early morning rush hour traffic jam (getting lost a bit too) to reach NASAM Ampang and meet up Mr Lim, to pass him the gym ball. But it turned out the drive in the early morning brings me to places in KL that I haven’t been to before – felt rather refreshing too.
The stroke patients were having physiotherapy session when I arrived. I waited for a while, and noticed that NASAM Ampang is quite a serene place. Or perhaps it was just my state of mind. I was introduced to Mr Lim short after, and we sat down to have a chat. And that was when it got amazing.
I truly have no idea of what to speak to Mr Lim about prior to that day. But as it turns out, he is a very chatty person, and I enjoyed simply listening to him.
He appeared to me as a 30-years plus man, embattled by the stroke (has been about 2 years now), but very sincere. He talked about how he was like prior to the stroke, about his businesses, about his life experience as a young man. He shared tremendously about his worldview as well – I remember particularly when he spoke about how important it is to be sincere to your friends and those around you, whether personal friends, or business friends. He even shared with me a few of his business experiences – how he took failures, how by sheer determination, hard work and a lot of courage he managed to achieve business successes, and etc. Most vividly, I remember him saying with a sigh that no matter how hard you work and how much money you are making, it is very important to take care of your health and enjoy the time you’re healthy.
Then it began to dawn on me – that I am the true beneficiary of this seemingly simple charity pledge, and I am lucky to have taken the day off to do this. To be able to sit down and chat with him for a full solid hour on things that we did gave me reassurance on taking the challenges life throw at me, and make the best out of it. Most importantly, to take care of my health and treasure it when I still have it.
Therefore, I am thoroughly thankful to TLC for putting together this Promise Me campaign. I am glad that I took a pledge, and it brings me to places I have never been to and to experience what I have never experienced. I think it is important to take some time once in a while to do things that are out of our ordinary routine. It will give us unexpected surprises, and provide a new dimension for us to see things in new ways we have never seen before, and probably learn one or two important lessons in life that we can adopt to make our lives, and those around us, a better and more positive one.
I presented Mr Lim with the gym ball thereafter, taught him how to use it (I struggled, as I haven’t used one before myself), and shook his hand and said good bye. That day, I drove back with a smile.
