The Future
It’s hard to anticipate
What’s up any minute?
You can lose as much as you can make,
What then is your take?
Even if you just contemplate
A life that’s simple and straight,
One day you’ll find yourself
Surprised at what’s in the wake.
It’s not just what you think
Life’s just a funny thing;
Even if you are the very King
You’ll need His link!
Because you cannot do everything
Without His very Blessing
So just keep remembering
The Lord can just make you blink!
The above two stanzas were written way back in 1978 and they were my translations of the wordings in the theme song of the Hong Kong drama series ‘The Chameleon” “变色龙“. The music can be heard below in a piano recital by Michael Kwan.
Leslie Cheung sang the song once before he died. Listen to his rendition of this song in the video below:
The story in the drama centers the three sons of three neighboring families in a densely populated residential suburb in Hong Kong. The story follows the career paths of these three close friends and how each reacts to differing circumstances in the workplace. Their career paths often cross one another and their actions and reactions have been personified in the changing of the colors of the skin of a chameleon - to match its surroundings.
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Let us reflect a little of our past.
How many incidents are actually planned by us?
Whom we are to meet tomorrow and how he or she can have a bearing on our future are all unknowns.
Take me and my career history as an example.
When I was living in a rented upper deck bed in Chinatown Singapore during my first twenty years of my life, little did I know I would be able to have a University Education.
During the second twenty years, I had never anticipated having an award from the Singapore Government to study property valuation and quantity surveying in London and to be qualified as a Chartered Surveyor.
My third twenty years were full of surprises. I brought my family members to New Zealand to settle in Auckland - Surprise No. 1. I completed my MBA studies from Australia and my Doctoral Degree in comparative religion from Assumption U in Bangkok - Surprise No. 2. I had helped Thai Property Valuers both in the setting up of Valuation Standards for the country and in educating and upskilling Thai property valuers during the financial crisis of the time - Surprise No. 3.
I am on my fourth twenty-year cycle now and every day is another day full of unexpected events.
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The Mandarin versions of the first part of the drama series can be viewed by clicking the link below.
https://youtu.be/DO73KjU-NPw?list=PL8Wry68Q-p71a9Z2LDnvXJUEetMpGNdl0