His passing brought up a lot of emotions in me. Not because I am a polar bear lover. But because of the significance of the polar bear enclosure to me.
You see, my father was involved in building the polar bear enclosure at the Singapore zoo. Specifically, the landscaping part. Going to the zoo with him (via the side entrance) when I was young was part of my school holiday routine. He went as part of work; I went under the reason of "helping him". Of course, I wasn't of much help, but it allowed me to roam the zoo for free.
More importantly, it allowed me to spend time with my father, seeing him at work, learning important life and leadership lessons from him.
Those times with him, those lessons from him, they are all the more precious because he passed away when I was 20.
And so, every time I pass by the polar bear enclosure (and the komodo dragon one too), I would remember the times with him, driving around Singapore as he visited various work sites to check on the progress of work, buy and bring lunch to his workers, and took over their work while they ate. He never gave any formal lectures on leadership to me, never talked about his work much, but I learnt from observing him. The importance of being present, seeing things with one's eyes, caring for the people in the team, and persevering through hard work. As a preteen and teenager, I was attending excellent leadership lessons for free.
Those lessons have served me well over the years, especially when I was in key leadership positions.
My son saw tears welling up in my eyes last year, when we walked through the empty polar bear enclosure at the zoo. I tried to explain to him the reason for those tears, but he might have been a bit too young to understand.
I only hope he will grow up learning as much from me as I had from my father.
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