By Amy Kam, Candy Chan, Cristy Ho, Fish Fong
“No pain, no gain.” A famous Chinese saying tells that sacrifice is necessary in order to pursue success, but does it mean that we need to give up something precious before we can reach our goal? According to the four interviewees from different age groups, sacrifice could mean…
Choice
Two young ladies, in their final year of studying in University of Macau (UM), are so enthusiastic about drama. Abby Lei started to be the instructor of SHCC Drama Club and Hannah Ng is a freelancer of theater.
Abby Lei and Hannah Ng
Both of them spend much time on drama or other related activities, such as performance courses. Maybe many people will ask them why they spend most their time on drama, they are “sacrificing” or “losing” their own leisure time, their opportunity for earning money or the time for study. Their answer is as simple as that – I just love it.
Lei and Ng both devote their own time to drama. No matter how busy they are, they never complain a single word about it. While asked about their definition of “sacrifice”, “There are two things you love equally, but you can only choose one, the loss of that thing which you give up willingly is sacrifice,” Ng said. “Therefore, I don’t agree that I have sacrificed my own time of browsing websites, playing on my tablet, or watching TV for drama, because they are not better than it.”
Maybe others will blame them for not putting their time for academic work, or they are wasting their time. Lei replied that all of us have limited time and there is no exception. What they are doing is that they are making good use of their time and doing what they like. Although sometimes the schedule might not always be appropriate, they can still manage both their academic work and the drama activities.
Both of them have participated in local troupes or theaters. They agreed that the cultural and creative industry is developing in Macao, and citizens are paying more attention to it. However, they thought that the government places too little attention to the local troupes or even ignores their needs. They believed that if the government really wants to create the artistic atmosphere in Macao or to improve the cultural education of citizens, the government should develop the local troupes or give them support, such as subsidies. Let the local troupes to be in the lead so that local people can keep in touch with artistic activities.
Life process
Queenie Lee
“Salary is not so important for me and I just want to do what I really want,” Queenie Lee, 23 years old, is a graduate from UM with Bachelor in English Communication. She is now a journalist of Magazine “NEW GEN. Month”.
Lee has worked in “NEW GEN. Month” for almost one year and this job can bring her great satisfaction, “I am really touched by the interviewee who recognized me and called my name in the street telling me that she really appreciated my article,” Lee said. “You can only do better as long as you can gain the satisfaction in your job and I don’t think I would like that if I work in a hotel or casino.”
“Real estate, banks and hotels are the trades which most of my friends work in,” Lee said. “That is alright if you do these jobs, but the question is ‘Do you really love and enjoy the job?’” Lee encouraged graduates to identify their career interests and goals instead of aimlessly following the Macao employment trend in recent years.
Lee considered that sacrifice is a process, first you will lose something and then you can gain another thing. “As a youngster, we should be hopeful rather than having this concept of ‘sacrifice’,” she added.
Sacrifice is too serious for Lee and she disagreed with the suggestion that what she is doing now is “sacrifice”. “Perhaps my salary is lower than those people working in gambling industries but money is not the most significant,” said Lee. “I would like to learn more when I am young and that is really having meaning for me.”
“Is meaningful and valuable work a sacrifice?” she asked in the end of the interview.
Fulfillment
Chan Kin Meng
“It’s my choice, so I do not see it as a sacrifice. I am just doing the things I like,” said Chan Kin Meng.
Chan, 55, assistant coach of the Macao Table Tennis Team , started to be a table tennis athlete since he was 15 and has been chosen as a member of the Macao Table Tennis Team to participate in the Asian Games for a few times.
In the morning, he goes to his day job like everyone else and at night he works as the assistant coach. He gets only an hour break between these two “jobs”. Asked why he still chose to be an assistant coach in such tight schedule, he replied, “I have been participating in this area for a long time, and I hope my experience could help the young generation. I hope I could do something for them. Although there is less time I can spend with my family after I started to be a coach, still I chose to continue my way because I would like to fulfill my own dream.”
During the interview he also commented on the new generation. He said, “Macao is changing. It’s different from my generation. The new generation has more challenges to face, so it’s important that they can hold on to their choices. If you are sure what you are doing is your real choice, you will be able to continue it. So there’s nothing to blame on society saying that it is an unbalanced society that forces someone to give up something. So, if you have a dream or goal, just do it. Nothing will change if you do not even start it.”
Frankly there’s no right or wrong answer for what is sacrifice to various people. Everyone could have different viewpoints on the word “sacrifice”, the way you see “sacrifice” is what matters. Different people will have different answers to the question. So, what is your opinion?