It was never for him, constantly looking ahead chasing after his goal for richness. An ultimately goal probably shared by most of us if not by all of us. It was never easy for Jim, having to grow up in a broken family and having to take care of his little sister when his mother was perpetually intoxicated. It was a life he hated and he swore that he will bring himself out of this sad situation to make sure he saw his sister through university.
Dropping his sister off to school everyday was one of the best feelings Jim could ever feel knowing that he could see to his sister's needs. If it was anything or anyone he hated most, it would be his parents, having left him and his sister to fend for themselves.
Slugging things out having left secondary school to practice articleship in a small accounting firm was a tough road Jim had to endure. It was simply difficult to find any average paying job that could help him finance his sister's education. Jim was audit clerk by day and a fast food chain waiter by night before taking into account weekend classes to get his accounting certificate!
It was tiring but Jim persisted knowing he had to see his sister through. His to-do list for everyday's work had one phrase written right at the bottom of the list. It spelled out "whatever it takes!". He worked himself out so hard that by the time he got home every night, he'd simply fall asleep from exhaustion without any energy to even worry about anything.
Even years after he saw through his sister's medical degree, he continued to work hard albeit in different circumstances. Jim was now a partner of the firm he first started as an audit clerk racking in close to a million in annual gross income. Financials are now a non-issue for Jim considering on top his partnership income, he had other passive source income from investments he held across the region. But despite all the wealth, Jim was missing something in life's balance sheet - a life's companion. Having sank himself in work to bring up his sister, he never really had the opportunity to meet anyone or even if he did had the opportunity he'd probably not think about it since he was three quarters of the time too tired to think about anything besides making sure he had enough dough to finance his sister.
One night while looking out the balcony of his fancy service apartment with a glass of whiskey in his hand, he suddenly remembered a phrase his grandfather always told him - "you can live on the street, you can rule the world but it won't mean one damn thing if you ain't got love kid". He shook his head reluctantly telling himself he granddad was right on that note.
Rewinding back to the time when Jim was struggling as a day audit clerk and night fast food chain waiter, there was someone always secretly admiring his resolve of steel but at the same time felt if there was any way she could help him. That someone was Kym, a timid girl who worked in the same fast food chain as Jim during those times. She was always secretly looking for him. Every night before going off duty at the chain, he'd find a bottle of cold water by his locker with a packet of sweet buns. He never knew who placed it there the entire time he was working there.
This day and time we find many young working adults pursuing their careers with the only intention of making money so much so that a lot of life's aspects are left out. We find more and more broken families, stress related diseases, social problems and the list goes on. With eyes set solely on career grow, the only path they look at is the path upwards the career ladder. One important thing we forget is that when one is focused on one point ahead of them, the view becomes a tunneled vision and everything else around it is left in the blind spot. Looking ahead isn't the only way you should be looking if you want to grow because for one to grow, the surroundings make a different - its the people around you that provide support, the environment that motivates you or simply having someone by your side in times of need.
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