If there’s a will, there’s a way; When you want to achieve something, you will find a thousand ways possible to do it

Updated: Sunday November 3, 2013 MYT 11:32:03 AM

If there’s a will, there’s a way

BY SOO EWE JIN

When you want to achieve something, you will find a thousand ways possible to do it.

I LIKE the Malay saying, “Mahu seribu daya, tak mahu seribu dalih,” which basically means when you want to do something, you will find a thousand ways possible to achieve it; but when you don’t want to do it, you will have a thousand excuses not to do it. The English just say, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” We know how frustrating it is to call up a government agency and be passed from one section to another. But we are sometimes surprised when the person we speak to go out of the way to make sure we get connected to the right person.Going to a bookstore can also be equally frustrating if the staff are not natural book lovers who know that an autobiography is not a book about a car.

In a previous column titled, “The mark of a good worker is attitude, not aptitude” (Sunday Starters, July 5, 2010), I related how a young shop assistant went out of the way to help me look for the classic book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

He remarked, “Oh yes, the same author who wrote The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

I was totally impressed that this young man was able to connect a novel published in 1925 to a lesser known short story written by the same author which went on to become a hit movie in 2008.

The Great Gatsby starring Leonardo DiCaprio was released this year but those from my generation may remember the earlier version starring Robert Redford that was released in 1974.

As it turned out, the book was not in the store but he went to great lengths to call up the other outlets before referring me to a website where I could order the book.

This young man reminded me that many things in life are actually connected and if you take the effort to join the dots, it may not be so difficult to find what you are looking for.

As they say, if there’s a will, there’s a way.

I met up with a long-lost friend last Saturday at the top of Fraser’s Hill. In our younger days, we used to play squash together after work.

The air was cool and crisp and, over many cups of tea, we shared about the different journeys we had been through. And then he was off.

Well, one may not think too much of such an encounter except that this friend actually cycled all the way up from Kuala Kubu Baru – a 40km-plus journey which took him about three hours.

The return journey took half the time and he had to battle cold and rain on the way down.

If there’s a will, there’s a way.

How often do we put off meeting up with people simply because it is too out of the way? And the sad thing is that “out of the way” is not always about distance.

We often put off that necessary but meaningful encounter because our diary is too full, or there are more important people we have to meet.

I had a great time at Fraser’s Hill last weekend amidst nature and warm fellowship.

But the defining moment must surely be about how my long-lost friend rode up a hill to reconnect with me, for which I am truly blessed.

Soo Ewe Jin is thankful for readers who take the trouble to offer him feedback. One reader last week even expressed his appreciation through poetry. Thank you, Haji Kamaruddin.