Face the real world, Dekna.

24.1.2011.

Your grandfather didn't live long enough to even see your uncle, my younger brother, graduate with an M.B.B.S. from M.U. How proud he would have been. 

You know, eventually seven of us siblings, children of the cikgu from Kuala Pilah, finished our tertiary education, some with post-graduate degrees, and made something out of our lives. Not great nor rich & famous, but useful lives we're always thankful for. And now the late cikgu's children's children are in turn coming out into the real world with at least adequate academic qualifications. They will not guarantee success, but put to good use they can help. And Dekna ,  you are a case in point.

By the end of 2010, you had already chalked up 18 months of legal service , most of them (12) where you are now, in Kuantan. I have told you too many times that the real world is nothing like the classroom where you have spent most of your life so far - 18 years of schooling to be exact. By your own school grades you have put yourself through a successful scholastic career. But good school grades do not necessarily transfer to good career grades.

If you think school was hard work, and I know you worked hard in school, think again. Real life is the really hard part. Nobody is going to grade you. You make your own grades. But everybody will assess you. As a worker, as a friend, as an adversary, as a human being. Later on, God willing, as a wife and a mother. And mostly you won't be treated, at least in your own eyes, fairly. You make your own call.

What's the secret to success in the real world ? Who knows. But surely one of the key ingredients must be the willingness to work, and work hard and honestly. No short cuts, no "spotting the questions" here.

You often tell me of your stress and frustration at work, in court. I tell you that life is full of stress and frustrations. Your career development will be built on them, stress and frustrations. If you are willing to learn from them, you learn to handle them and go over them. You will eventually succeed. Otherwise you fail. 

You say the defence counsels are too smart. They have to be, or nobody will take them. But learn from them. And work harder than them. You can't match them for experience, because they have been at it longer. 

So build up your own experience right now.  Remember you share the same early training at law school. But remember you had excellent grades. You went to the best girls college in the country. Successful as they are, did they get, like you, First Class Honours, and Best Student Award to boot ? 

Keeping this fact in your mind, but never flaunting it ( who cares, anyway ), you should be able to face them squarely. Throw the books at them ( don't take it literally). Prepare your case well. Be sharp like them. Be aggressive but respectful of their standing and experience and enjoy the intellectual sparring. Gain the respect of the court. That's my advice. 

Come to think of it, there's no stress here. Sounds like fun. So work hard, but enjoy it, too. Life is like making tea - it's up to you to make it strong or weak.

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