I’ve spent the past hour and half digging through the piles of ancient history in my room and within that short timeframe, I’ve unearthed treasures, keepsakes, priceless moments…..

and lots, and lots of rubbish.

One of my favourite reads back in school was this magazine called Phases. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a Christian youth magazine that used to go for RM14 a year (nowadays, you pay RM5.60 a month for Cleo *rolls eyes*). I felt reminiscent and smiled while I flipped to the contents page of this 7-year-old wonder when I saw a really familiar face next to the title “The Fool with a Conscience”.

A very young

scrawny

black-haired

vest-less

29-year-old version of

Dr. Goh!

Yes, I mean Department of Psychology’s dean, Dr. Goh Chee Leong.

This article was written in 2001 when I was in form 3 and that was the first time I actually noticed him and I thought:
“Wow, head of the department at only 29.” and then, I thought…
“Who the hell calls their college or university, HELP?!”

That year was the same year that during our school’s annual career/education fest, HELP opened a booth and I sat there and spoke to someone trying to sell to me the idea of studying Psychology. Well, looks like that idea stuck and whoever did the selling (I cannot remember) definitely did his/her job.

Truth is, I’m a shallow person when it comes to reading articles. I usually flip through a magazine many times. First to look at the pictures, then again to look at the fun parts of the magazine (i.e. jokes, stupid quizzes, etc) and when I’m all flipped out, I take my time and read whichever article I feel like reading first, leaving the ones with most uninteresting titles for the last. But I distinctly remember flipping through Phases in school during a free period and saw something that piqued my interest:

“We should never seek vindication, never live our lives just so that one day we can show the world that we made the right decision.” (Goh, 2001).

For those of us who know Dr. Goh, he’s charismatic, driven, ambitious, and to an extent, we’ve also heard a little bit manipulative. But that doesn’t discount the fact that he is one very clever man in a 5-foot-something package. Whatever he missed out on in height, God gave him in brains.

What he said, is something I completely understood back then, and agreed with.

Most of all, perhaps it’s something that until now, I’ve forgotten. But that’s okay. Because now, I remember.

“I like to think that my drive comes from being committed to do the best I can, finding joy i what I have been given and the belief that if I have a servant’s attitude, I can make a difference, by God’s grace.” (Goh, 2001)