..Of Being Grateful..

*I've been drafting this for quite some time. So, here we go...

I may not be rich money-wise but I am blessed that Allah gives me enough difficulties to teach me how to be grateful. For everything that I have and do not have.

It takes one simple sentence to get me thinking. This deep. Real deep.

There was this one hamba Allah complained about how 'small' our surau is. I spontaneously felt annoyed and said "Oklah ni, daripada kilang yang tak de surau langsung". And she indirectly disagreed with me "Ade ke kilang yang tak de surau?"

Hmm, no wonder people can be such a whiner. Because they simply don't know how it feels to be less-fortunate. And that they have no idea of how annoying it is to do nothing but complain and complain and complain.

I have to admit that I myself complained a lot, too. Almost about everything and yes, especially on my job. So I'm writing this as a reminder to myself - so that everytime I want to start complaining I should look back and ponder.

I still remember when I first came to JB - it was during En Hubby's convocation in 2006. We went door to door (literally) at almost every factory in Taman U asking "Ada kerja kosong tak?". Bila ingat balik memang rasa terharu dengan kesungguhan En Hubby (masa tu boyfriend) temankan saya cari kerja.

He pushed and helped me to overcome my shyness and belasah je tanya semua kilang-kilang tu. At some point I did give up upon receiving those cynical and 'insulting' reaction from those yang kitorang tanya but he patiently repeated "Buat bodoh jek".

Ada satu kilang tu saya ring kan door bell then tanya kat intercom "Ada kerja kosong tak", terus kerani dia cakap "Tak de".

Kecewa.

But fortunately masa tu GM dia ada kat depan pagar then tanya kitorang nak apa. Dengan muka kesian saya tanyalah "Ada kerja kosong tak?", then dia ajak masuk office. Dia tanya saya pandai guna komputer tak, blabla..pandai lukis product tak, blabla..then dia tunjuk saya satu document (actually it's a Work Instruction or Process Manual or whatever you may call it tapi masa tu I manalah tau apa mende tu), dia tanya saya boleh buat ni tak. Terus laju-laju saya cakap boleh, no problem. Dia kata next week boleh start kerja tapi dia cuma boleh bagi gaji RM800 saja. Masa tu saya tak peduli lah, asalkan dapat kerja - for the sake of gaining some experience.

Memang susahlah masa tu - dahlah duduk kat JB yang serba-serbi tinggi, kosnya, dengan nak bayar sewa bilik lagi. Lagi-lagi pulak ada je mulut manusia yang kata "Kalau gaji macam tu baik balik kampung je". Saya kuatkan je hati, 'tak pe, aku ada plan, aku bukan nak kerja sini sampai bila-bila'.

Yang sedihnya, surau memang tak de langsung. Ada satu office kosong tengah nak renovate untuk office baru jadi saya tanya GM boleh tak saya nak solat kat situ. Mula-mula dia kata tak boleh, tapi saya cakaplah, tak lama, dalam 10 minit je tiap-tiap hari and dia pun ok. Kantin tak payah tanyalah, memang tak de.

Kerja kat situ kira sambil menyelam minum airlah. Sebab dapat access internet kat office kan so tiap-tiap hari bukak Jobstreet. Pergi interview ke sana sini sampai ke Kluang pun ada until 3 months later, dapat interview kat MTP.

Dapatlah kerja kat situ as Project Engineer walaupun gaji tak besar pun. Kat sini pun tak de surau cuma atas usaha beberapa pekerja kat situ, adalah jugak tempat solat yang diperbuat daripada pallet dan a few partition board untuk ruang solat yang boleh muatkan seorang sahaja dalam satu-satu masa. Memang menyedihkan... Kantin? Hmm...

Dalam hati masa tu memang selalu terdetik kenapa jalan hidup aku tak sesenang kebanyakan kawan-kawan yang lain yang terus dapat gaji standard untuk degree qualification at those multi-nationals company. Tapi tetap tabahkan hati dan terus tak putus asa cari peluang yang lebih baik sambil dapatkan as much experience as I can.

Then dapat peluang yang lebih baik sikit kat Chosen Manucfacturing (kilang plastik). Tak lama kat situ sebab saya tak boleh tahan suasana kerja dan tekanan kat situ. And so my job-hunting mission continued. Pun puas pergi interview sana sini, sampailah dapat kerja kat current company.

Dan saya dah bertahan kat sini dah 2 years++. Alhamdulillah ada surau yang boleh muatkan dalam 30 orang (untuk bahagian perempuan sahaja, lelaki saya tak tau berapa besar, tak pernah masuk :P) dan baru-baru ni siap upgradekan pasang 2 kipas tu pun orang masih complain kenapa tak besarkan surau. Dan ada kantin yang orang selalu complain makanan hari-hari sama.

So, moral of the story - if you're facing such a tough road, just bear in mind that Allah is teaching you to work hard and harder and to be grateful once you achieve whatever you've ever dreamt of because you gain it through such hardship.

Because once you're there, you'll value things more and you won't end up complaining about everything in this world.

All of these thoughts make me realize that at least today I am better than what I was yesterday. And to be better, I need to work harder, instead of whining.

You see, everything happens for a reason.