Tuesday 1 October 2013

When Free Help Becomes Costly

I know the subject of the post sounds contradicting, it is nevertheless true. When you know the help is for good cause, are willing to help and are capable of helping, thus offering it voluntarily without expecting any form of reward in return, you will still end up paying the price for "helping others". You may lose the race as a result when you stop and pick up the one on the ground, you may put your career development in jeopardy when you choose to help defend your needy colleagues who are in trouble, you may sacrifice your time and concentration to do and achieve more when you reach out to the ones who are in uncertainty and misery. Many judge what you should do and what you should not. Many also comment in hindsight what you should have done and what you should have not. Maybe they are right, maybe they are not. My personal view is when helping others for good causes, despite outward gesture, is an inward motivation with genuineness and sincerity, it is not only something given for free, but also something that can bear the price and risk that may come along. Of course, when I am unable to help, I will definitely say I can't; there is no pretense. I have my priority and I have my limitation, and I am very clear on that. But when I can be of help, I will try to help, and I will make sure the recipients learn something in the process. How much help? That's another matter and it depends on the situation. Help may be free but it should not be blind. Cost is inevitable, but the satisfaction within and self-learning in the process are more rewarding.

Friday 22 February 2013

Publish or Perish

I am grateful to Prof Kim Fam and Prof Ernest for giving me the chance to collaborate, and most importantly to learn so many things in the process. The award is a testament to the paper and presentation, and a recognition of our effort. In IBBC2012 Tawau we presented two papers. And thus far, I have presented two papers at PCSSM2012 Unimas and ICS2012 Taylor respectively, and published one journal paper at AJBR with Prof Ernest. We have submitted one paper to ISI-indexed journal and another to Scopus-indexed journal. I am drafting an abstract for the upcoming GBSR conference in KL in June this year (2013), and writing another two papers, one intended for ISI-indexed journal, and another for Scopus-indexed journal again. With the guidance from my supervisor, I can see few more potential papers, be it for conference proceeding or journal article, from my database. Compared to many, I am still a slow-moving researcher. However this 'research path' and things about doing a PhD has become clearer and clearer. Publishing as a result of reading, analyzing, writing and redoing the whole process time and again is fun and rewarding (in various forms). I do not know what my future lies in academia but for the time being I will just savour the moment.