Although 9.28 was over and leaving us with many memories behind, I would like to share some of my thoughts about this remarkable event and what it meant to me.
I think it started as early as March when we were told that we would be holding a friendship festival on the 28th of September in SSA HQ which had a potential capacity of holding 1000 friends. With our limited members of less than 250 in Eunos West Chapter during then, I was a bit skeptical in our ability to achieve this target. Nevertheless, a series of planning and activities kicked off among the leaders and we were determined to make it a success story for everyone.
As time passed, we were clearer on our roles to play in 9.28. We broke into different focus groups, activities and preparation got more and more intense. Through the process, more importantly, I had slowly learn to truly appreciate the main objective in holding this event; "To introduce new friends to the great Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism, to share and enable friends in attaining absolute happiness in life". Things were not as smooth as we planned to, many chanting sessions and efforts were 'incurred' to ensure that we were on track and nothing was stopping us from advancing.
After many months of hardwork, we had finally held our 9.28 with a remarkable attendance of 1300 friends! As a participant of the event, I personally feel that in general, it is a great success. It is really not so much about the main event itself, but rather, the process or the journey leading to this event. Of course, if we just focused on the stage performance, I would agree that there would probably be tons of things which we could do better for our new friends, anyway, many of us are amauters and doing this for our very first time.
Personally, i feel 9.28 had made me grow stronger. It builds a lot of courage and strength within myself to make me feel stronger. It started off when I need to do 'marketing' to our district members in promoting the 9.28 event, then I had to approach my colleagues to invite them to the event and finally, for me to speak about my testimonial in front of the thousand of audiences. All these did not come easy for myself, and many times I would feel like 'chickening' out to seek for the easy way out. I am glad that I did not, and in return, I feel a great sense of achievement after the event.
9.28 had also made our chapter grew stronger. It had made us realised that nothing is impossible if we chant earnestly. While there were moments of conflicts during the journey, the objective was clear and we had build a stronger foundation and cohesivness among each and every members and leaders. It had set us to practise buddhism in the right path, in sharing happiness with our friends. I feel we should use the strengths and weaknesses we had learnt through 9.28 and continue our buddhist practise with a stronger conviction.
Please feel free to comment your thoughts about 9.28 as well...
1 comment:
i guess everything is indeed a matter of perception. the very reason why a resident prayer for many years had been 'to be able to see everything in its correct perspective'.
9.28 to me was a glass half-filled. with a natural tendency to only notice the shadows cast by the light, i was overwhelmed by the emptiness of the glass. the people whom i have invited were all who are close to my heart, whom i passionately hope from my entire being that they could have the good fortune to embrace this practice for the benefit of themselves and their entire families. for years i have shared with them our activities occasionally, and even my family's benefits, big and small. but no, they would not be nudged, to be inconvenienced to attend a sunday afternoon's event, despite extending the invitation to them many months in advance. none of the ten tickets distributed to these close friends contributed to the 1,300 :`(
was my daimoku too little? were my prayers not strong enough? was it due to the nagging doubt at the back of my mind all along? or was it simply because i did not do enough of my human revolution to attract my friends to follow my practice? was my technique of inviting friends lousy? or maybe i just was not determined enough?
i wielded courage, lots of courage in bringing out my postcards and invitation tickets; thickened my hide as i sent friendly reminder sms-es, emails and even made phone calls; pursued relentlessly on the 'dunno', 'maybe', 'see-how', and even non-reply. although i can't say i didn't try, but the result is exactly the same as that.
9.28 was a dreadful day for me, failure loomed even before the day begun. wished i could pause and fast-forward to 9.29 but i can't.
9.28 came and went. victories were aplenty but none mine i thought. criticisms followed aplenty and forced me to think and take a stand beyond my fence. i had to take that stand as i witnessed the insightful and detailed strategic planning; hard work; incredible amounts of time and efforts, creativity and ingenuity beyond many's comfortable zone of skills and familiarity; overcoming ceaseless problems and changes along the way.
i truly applaud, from the bottom of my heart, all the people - in front and behind the scenes, friends, members and leaders - who made 9.28 possible! yes, 9.28 was not a world-class show; it was never meant to be. we set out on the 9.28 journey to touch people's lives, others as well as ours, and create victories in our own. as i take my stand beyond my fence, i realized i am touched. and i too have a victory i can proudly share - i undertook an unprecedented sort of responsibility and persisted to the end although many a times i wished i could chicken out or just hand it over to a more capable someone. most importantly, i have decided not to give up on my friends - it is not their fault, neither is it mine, maybe the time is just not right. no doubt, i will continue to tell more people about our philosophy of life.. :)
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