REFLECTIONS: One Of The Last Few of the Gentlemen

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

One Of The Last Few of the Gentlemen

Last Sunday, December the 2nd, me and my other half were invited to a private meeting with a friend and his dad who happened to be the great guy, a friend we made a few years back while in that particular company from Down Under.

And we had a great afternoon of fun amidst the brain storming session.

To begin with, being in his presence already made my day. A gentleman in every fibre of his being. This is a man who still teaches at a local University and shares his wisdom through his talks as a professional speaker and the President of The Malaysian Association of Professional Speakers.

It was a feeling of total comfort and security being in the presence of a dear friend with a great thinking mind embraced by a set of values that I am totally comfortable with.

Here is a man who has contributed so much and yet been robbed of his dues many times because there are just plain too many
'respectable people' with positions out there who are anything but respectable in their integrity and 'educated' yet devoid of a thinking mind who has little regard for other people's intellectual properties. And despite all those unpleasant experiences, he continues to stand tall with his believes and values of what is right and wrong.

His passion has always been teaching and sometimes that became the brunt of his son's joke for being paid peanuts. But as he always said, "It is my passion." And it's quite difficult for the common people to appreciate that. Who would understand for people like us to take days to prepare for a talk? Or days to prepare an 8 page presentation slides?

We spent a couple of hours together and we left refreshed. The whole meeting was to say the least, therapeutic.

And the world's thirst for such simplicity and honesty shall never be quenched for this man is one of the rare breed left in this universe. One of the last few of the gentlemen...

The other one that I had the privilege of knowing some years back has passed on. The late Tan Sri VM Hutson, one of the founders of Zoological Society (The Zoo) in Ulu Klang and The Outward Bound School in Lumut Perak.

So guys, appreciate and enjoy the great mind of this dear friend of ours for all of us are but mortals...