So, I’ve always been more excited about watching behind the scenes stuff than the actual movies or music albums and the like, and that was the main reason why I decided it would be a good idea to intern at the TFM office before heading off for PSP and the 2 year fellowship. And it was great to find out what goes on behind the scenes; seeing every department in action, as well as the challenges we encountered first-hand made me appreciate what goes on in the organization a lot more.
Right before Johanan left, Zizi talked about how we’re in the business of “crushing people”, to push people to their limits and breaking points. Zizi also had a picture of a crushed butterfly on her desktop which added to the topic we were on. Yes, her point was on setting stretch goals for us to go as far as we can, but all I could think of was (spoiler alert if you haven’t watch ‘The Dark Knight Rises’) when Batman had his back broken by Bane, and Bruce Wayne ended up in some prison, full of despair and nothing to live for.
That image got me thinking of the many challenges we faced as an organization over the past few months. And with all the problems that started coming up, our focus started shifting away from the cause towards a more self-centred mentality. It became more of “What about me?”, “Should I start looking for another job?”, “When will my uncertainty end?” and similar questions (Not to say that these are not valid concerns) instead of “Even if this doesn’t work out, I will still be committed to the cause and find other avenues to affect change”.
This is why I thought Dzam’s exercise on “Making Sense of Education Reform in Malaysia” was a good exercise to refocus our attention on the cause, on why we’re doing what we’re doing in the first place.
Back to the Batman story – Seeing Gotham burn, gave Bruce Wayne a reminder of his purpose. It reminded him why he put on the mask in the first place, and helped him get off his butt and make the climb. And constantly reminding ourselves of our mission is what will make us resilient in the face of obstacles, frustrations and things that just refuse to go our way. And I’m sure we’ll encounter more challenges in the future.
When Bruce Wayne was in the prison, the blind doctor next to him said, “You do not fear death. You think this makes you strong. It makes you weak … How can you move faster than possible, fight longer than possible without the most powerful impulse of the spirit: the fear of death?”
Every now and then, we hear of mothers lifting cars to save their children, or people outrunning tigers and out-wrestling bears at the face of death. And I think we need that fear of death. We need to fear the death of our organization, which is irrelevance – that TFM’s existence made no impact on our students, our community, or our nation. This will make us try the hardest that we can, to make sure that we make a positive impact on our education system.
I’d like to end this with the challenge that Dzam put forth at the end of the 2014/15 Cohort Meet-up to everyone – “What is the legacy that you want to leave behind?”
