I have to admit. I've never heard of Efren Peñaflorid until the day he gave speech in the 2011 MDRT Experience. Or maybe our newspaper did publish the news when he was named CNN Hero of the Year for 2009 but I was too ignorance then?
Anyway, having the opportunity to listen to this young gentleman is a great experience. He is sincere, humble and noble. When "normal" teenagers busy dealing with their hormon issues, Efren turned his dream into reality. He pushes his little cart of classroom and reach out to those that do not have education opportunity. At age of 16, he started the "Dynamic Teen Company" with the aim to help others. They are making small yet significant effort.
Let us, i mean everyone of us, start our one small step of good deed today!
"Before, a pushcart was a symbol of poverty, but now it is a symbol of hope and education" ~ Efren Penaflorida
我错过了在电影院看Kungfu Panda的机会，只能和老弟在家里坐在电脑前笑得眼泪直流。所以，Kungfu Panda 2是我无论如何一定要到戏院里去和一群不认识的小孩子们一起笑翻天的。意外的是，Kungfu Panda 2的笑料不如第一集（至少我没有笑到泪流满脸），故事却比第一集更鲜明精彩，电影角色刻画也比第一集深刻丰富（这一次我终于对Furious 5有感情了）。而且，好莱坞很少能够把中国元素拿捻得着么好的。我有点叹为观止。单单是影片开场戏部分类似于剪纸和皮影风格的细腻画面就可以让许多中国电影人惭愧了。End credit的中国元素也是趣味怏然的，让我想起小时候那些薄薄一小本的哪咤、西游记等中国漫画……曲终人散时有点儿恍惚……
在所有角色中，我最爱的非Lord Shen莫属，除了因为Gary Oldman，也因为他简直‘有型’到‘爆’！他第一次亮相时以尾巴为武器横扫，然后来个漂亮的孔雀开屏，一气呵成的动作设计真的令很多武侠电影汗颜的。（不知为什么，电影史上，坏人总是比好人更能带来视觉上的震撼。你看Lord Vader vs Master Yoda; Lord Shen vs Master Shifu / Po，在视觉上总是气势vs滑稽的。当然，精神上仍然是正派的哲理更能打动人心。你看Po和Shifu的四两拨千斤！那天人合一，万物一体的哲理；那以柔克刚，以静制动的精神！还真的不得不佩服Dreamworks那班天才，以熊猫黑白带出太极阴阳这样深邃的哲学，真是亏他们想得到。） 杨紫琼的声音演出也意外的出色（对不起，对于我们的这位拿督演员，我虽然觉得她优雅有型，但很少把她和“演技派”放在一块儿）。她演活了带有神经质的，东方智慧和神秘的综合。
电影情节在这儿不说了，只能告诉你的是，只要你求的是视觉上的盛宴以及绝对的娱乐，Kungfu Panda 2一定不会令你失望。
Until now, I still can't believe this! Alvin Lee actually leave a comment in my blog!! I got so excited this morning in my office when I saw his comment through gmail (we can't access to blogs through company internet). I'm dying to come home and tell the whole world that the person that inspire me actually leave a comment in my blog!! :-)
OK, so you heard me talking about the speech. Now you can go to the following link to view the highlights of his speech "The 2011 MDRT Experience: How to Turn Impossible Into Success" http://youtu.be/c0lgMWejQHE
I attended the MDRT Experience in Singapore a few months back, and I was inspired by all the great speakers, where they have been doing their very best to strive for success in all areas of their lives. I have been planning to blog about some of the great speakers and their inspiring speeches. Finally, here I am :)
I'd like to start with my favorite, the last speaker of the first long day who lighten up the hall. His spirit is so high that he made all of us laughed, sighed, gasped and held back a tear: Alvin Lee - The Sand Castle Builder from Castle Can Fly. Too bad that I can't share his original speech here......
He is the type of father that every kids dream of. When his kids (including his own children and niece) wanted to learn drawing, he let them start with A4 paper, then Mahjong paper, and they ended up drawing murals in his house! (kids never learn how to draw within the paper, he said). When his kids wanted to learn to fly a kite, he made them a kite so big that he can tie his younger son on it and try to fly him! (I think you can get the idea on all the fun that his kids enjoyed as a kid)
Building sandcastles started out as one of those fun weekend activities for his children and niece. Since he believe in "if you want to dream, dream BIG", they went to library to do some research and they decided to make a sand castle like the one in the right!
He then discovered that there was actually no sandcastle-making kit in the market (that was in mid of1990s). He went to Singapore Toys R Us and the manager told him that "if you can't find it here, you can't find it elsewhere". He tried to call his friends and relatives in Australia, US and Europe, he also fax to a few key toy makers then but all came back with negative answers. He then turned his kitchen into a workshop(salute his wife!), started to saw pipes, making blocks etc that can be used to mould the sand for the different parts of sandcastle. From initial basic drawings of lines and shapes, he went on to modelling and prototyping of his newly created toy designs with plastic items. With those prototypes and amazing experiments, his kids enjoyed the homemade sandcastle building set.
A good friend of him pointed him towards commercialising the self-made tools into a business venture. So he tried to sell this idea to a few toys company, including Singapore Toys R Us. The GM then told him that toy business profit margin is paper-thin and he assure Alvin that his new design is not going to make it. He almost wanted to give up but "How do you tell your children that it cannot be done? That you want to give up?" So he resigned from the corporate world (he's a GM in a MNC then), flew to US with his business plan and passion, and successfully launched and marketed his Beachworks Brand in major toy stores in the United States since 1997. He came back to Singapore with a patent that pay so well that he can stop working for at least 3 years. He went to Singapore Toys R Us again, the GM said "See, I've told you, you'll make it!" :)
I can imagine all the rejections and difficulties that he has to face, and the courage to resign from a well-paid position to become an entrepreneur. Only great people with vision and perseverance can make it happened. Most of us have dreams, and yet, we let them stay as dreams. Actions may not ensure your success, but only actions can make the dreams come true.....Let's act NOW!
If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them. ~ Henry David Thoreau
