Dec 16, 2009

Inspire. Inspired. Inspiring.


A young reader of my blog, Cheer, decided to start off blogging after following my little 'lEft.nothingbehind' for quite some times. She sent me a message telling me how nervous she was.

...and I did not reply Cheer's message. I only smiled and wished her all the best, in my heart.

Another young reader of my humble blog, Zafirah, sent me a little note telling me how she was 'inspired' by the approach of me telling a story.. and hence practiced it in her SPM trial of English paper essay writing, and managed to get a 47/50 high score, equivalent to 91% for the paper. In her email, she told me how excited and how thankful she was..

....and until now I do not know how to reply her email.

Across the South China Sea, an English teacher in China, Xiaorong Li, sent me a note asking permission to use one of my blog post for her (his?) class. In the note, teacher Xiaorong Li told me she wished to let her students perceive a 'transcultural perspective' from my post...

...and I think I replied something but I forgot..

.... ...

...and now please tell me how should I react to all these feedbacks. Overwhelmed? Proud? Excited? Motivated? What?

What?

I showed the email from Ms. Zafirah to my mentors, hoping I would get some words from them but I did not. Of course they are happy for me for being good enough to inspire someone else, but that was not the feeling I was getting.

Instead, I somehow felt worried.

'To inspire' is a big word, and I don't think I'm right to carry it.

I know what's the feeling of 'getting inspired' like, and I would proudly say that there are great people around me who are truly inspiring... and listen carefully, inspirational people can be people who seems to be tiny and down-to-earth. I've seen too many so called 'great leaders' talking on the stage of 'inspiring people', but they only talk craps and cliche, and pathetic enough, while they thought they are gaining worships and admirations, they never realized they are actually making themselves an on-sale product with cheap promotions.

Seriously, when you find yourself trying too hard boosting what you are and who you are, with some old memories of track records and medals and awards, then you are loosing crowd.

..cuz a man would know well enough what's the feeling of being truly inspired.. and a man, too, should know well enough when and why they are being truly inspiring, and when and why they are not.

..because 'to inspire' is a big word -- I just think that one should at least be righteous and sincere enough to carry the noble task, achievements and glories are only the next factors that count after the integrity and modesty, no?


Ps.. Zafirah, yes you are right, it feels amazing to know I somehow helped out at the end of the day through my humble writings, but I don't think mine is able to affect people as what you've said. I'm glad I've unintentionally provided you some kind of references or perhaps an idea for you to write better, and your feedback is definitely alarming for me as I now really really have to watch out what I write and what I said. :) thanks again.

18 comments:

Fariz (FB) said...

there's a different between accepting recognition and dwell over it, or accepting one and quickly forgot about it in total. to inspire... but who inspired you in your writing?

God gives u a gift to share with everyone who has or will open their heart when they received it. How they want to use it when they received them, it's totally up to their discretion, but knowing that you have made someone's life better... you should feel blessed and thankful.

:)

Shazlan (FB) said...

bontot kembang la tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu :)

there isn't a need for you to be somebody, or to be 'out there', in order for you to inspire.

the simplest, most basic of acts, can be inspiring, if it is seen to be inspirational.

be grateful. keep your chin up, but never let both your feet of the ground.

we are all but human beings, yet each one of us are destined for great things :)

now go eat something!!! kau dah kurus sangat :P

Daus said...

ikot ati je la Tuan Aiman! den tak pandai komen2 ni..baco jo la..masuk ko..tak masok ko..tu den lotak topi..tp apo kau tulih sumo den baco sampai tetido-tido la gayo ei

Jass said...

Shazlan Shazlan.. Sighhh

Unknown said...

Angah.. thanks for the kind words.. i think i was just being annoyed by something bout myself.. i wish i could inspire people like others inspire me.. but i still think i'm way too early to reach there..

Drama Lan and Sighing Singh, u know what's THAT 1 WORD I m going to say next, start with 'C', the famous.

Daus, selamat merehatkan badan di tempat orng len. :P

The rest, thanks for liking this. Just a random thought.

Ani said...

well said. dont be so hard on urself tho, no? - kinda sense that ur, well we all are stms & its good to remember not to :) think its equally wonderful to be able to graciously receive praise n appreciation, without being overtaken by it. just lets not so be full of ourselves coz we should remember that it's all From Him & should also be For Him kn.. seh, m mostly reminding self actually but hey, u got me thinking of it too so thanks :)

Unknown said...

Ani.. I always like ur thought.. and now u really made me missing the conversations we had during old time.. nowadays only few frineds left for me to really talk deeply to.. *sigh*..

Daus said...

helo; aku ke sini bekerja yer..bukan HOLIDAY...kena buat pembetulan di sana...nak soh org inspire kite, statement pon kena tepat...huwahahahahah :)

Nad said...

bagga r ak ade member cam ko...siyes beb...and pls pls pls inspire la ak supaya semangat utk NC8 ! HUHU

Shazlan (FB) said...

"nowadays only few frineds left for me to really talk deeply to"...

MERAJUK! :(

HakimE said...

iyer my brother, a few tu including u ler.. we had a few DEEP sessions what.. :p ... oh yeah BTW, Ahya kate mu nih poyo... dier bace komen nih dari belakang aku.. dlm office yg golap nih...

Sharifah Suhaila said...

brilliant aiman. can share your knowledge too ;)

SpidEy d'lEfty said...

Mr Ano,

thanks for the phrase.. .thought i dun think it applies 100% in out life.. it could be the other way round, try ponder about it..

well said anyway..

PapaJai (FB) said...

den pon samo cam daous.. tak pandai den nak komen omputih nih.. skolah tak tinggi.. terbelit lidah den..
yg den ingat.. den ado satu komputer nama dio aspire jenama acer.. keh keh keh..

terus kan incik aiman.. ado org berjuang melalui kata2.. bercakap sikit pun org dah ghairah.. ado org berjuang dengan tulisan nye.. tapi kalau dapat dua dua kan BAGUS....

Unknown said...

*sigh................* :(

Nik Nor Zafirah said...

Thank you for bringing this up on here. The beauty of your writings on here is that you don't try hard to boost what you are and at times, they are so modest that you feel others are able to connect to them.

The fact that you have people coming up to you saying how your simple words have left an impact on them, big or small, goes to show you are already able to affect people. It's a gift that not many can possess.

You don't have to stand on a podium, waxing lyrical on how you want to bring change to the world in order to be inspirational. Neither do you have to be a man with a big list of achievements and glory to be boosted around.

Your humble writings are just one of those small things that keep people inspired along the way. Thank you, again :)

SpidEy d'lEfty said...

Hi Zafirah,

Sorry for not replying your email and sorry for kinda 'revealing' ur email in this blog post.. I'm humbled to read ur comments here.. thanks for ur kind kind kind words..

..and u too.. keep on writing .. yup, i read ur blog too.. :P

dell said...

inspire followers! cayalah aiman. :D