7:34 PM
Sunday, February 14, 2010
The Invaluable Gifts from year 2010 -- #1 Never Give In
2009 ended with an untimely explosion from CAC.
Committee members were asked to pay for a compensation amount up to $43 each for damaged clothing. With a severe lack of transparency and justice, and an outright mismanagement.
I would have willingly shared the burden if there’ve been proper dealings to keep everyone informed and involved. Without even being in the loop, how can anyone blatantly expect me to pay for something which I wasn’t even liable for, merely with a statement like “since we are in a team we should help one another out.”
My Ass.
If you truly treated everyone as a team, no one should be left out. Please do not use that as an excuse to make people pay money blindly. And mind you, I was out this so-called team more than half a year ago.
Nonetheless I paid. Mostly because of how others have been convinced me of the impossibility of fighting against a huge committee with the strength of a tiny finger, as well as the “pointlessness” of the continued agony. The fact that other committee members have accepted the unjustified reasoning and decided to move on by quickly sweeping the matter under the carpet also put another stop for my silent but violent objection.
This was perhaps one of the very very few regretful decisions I’ve ever made. Or perhaps, the only one.
This was certainly the most unfair and absurd mishap that have taken place in my rather short existence of 21 years.
As hard as I tried to let go of the unhappiness and rage that engulfed me through 2 whole months, I could not help by to chide myself for not able to stand firm on my ground and to fight back bravely. I regret for being the “Miss Nice” who tries to please everyone and maintains an amiable image. Because the outcome of it was that I’ve failed myself. What could have been worse than letting yourself down by not holding firm to your own principles that are proudly righteous and giving in just to be the timid peace-maker?
Don’t I hate bochap-ness to the core?
Yes, I know that the entire ridiculous episode was long over, but whenever I let my thoughts linger on it, I couldn’t help but to feel a tangible resentment.
This is the first thing I’ve learnt in the year 2010:
Never give in to your beliefs, if they are rightfully justified.
I do acknowledge the fact that by giving in and paying for the unduly compensation, I saved tons of troubles for myself and others. And it was the only sensible options back then.
But that’s not “Right”.
Sometimes my stubbornness gives people headache. They find me hard to understand, they find me overly naïve, they find me extreme. But who’s there to empathize me?
Till I read the last few chapters of Richard Branson’s Autobiography today. Sometimes, in face of adversity, in face of objection, we still have to stand firm with our beliefs. We have to. This is just how people gain their victory.
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British Airway had tried very hard to put me out of business and my staff out of their jobs. They had also forced me to sell Virgin Music, which had affected a whole group of other people who had nothing to do with the airline. It made me furious. I was not going to sit back over a gentleman’s breakfast and agree that it was all just a certain amount of “egg on face”.
Throughout the entire dirty-tricks episode I had been accused of being “naive”: naïve to believe that BA could behave in such a manner, naïve to think that BA would ever stop behaving in such a manner, naïve to believe that I would ever be able to bring BA to court, naïve to think for a moment that I could win a court case. The word “naive” echoed round and round in my head and at some points had almost undermined my resolve to go on.
Perhaps I was naïve in fighting for the justice I wanted; perhaps it was idealism; or perhaps I was just plain stubborn. But I knew that BA activities were unlawful and I wanted compensation. I was determined to make all those people who had dismissed my stance as “naive”, eat their words.
-Richard Branson
