Rob Chan

When I ask my self what defines me, I invariably remember what my college professor told me when he tried to summarize my beliefs. Rob, you are a positive,idealist, passive and a confident person'.

Am I? I still wonder...

But for lack of a precise definition, I will defer to that.

I believe in three basic things in life, the existence of God, doing good deeds, and maximizing my existence.

I thought that if I stick to these three precepts, I could basically have a direction, however convoluted life would twist my path... and twist it did... to extremes... and hopefully, in the end, my stay here on earth will have meaning.

I've been a product of a happy family... of Binondo... ... I've seen too much of the realities of life at an early age to the point where almost nothing shocks me anymore... I guess it gave me a very open perspective when I judge and see other people.

I am still a positive and an idealist. I believe in the inherent good in people... That it is our cruel world that forces people to be less than their best (or in some cases, brings out their best).

I also believe that in all the logic in this world, emotions and feelings are still the most powerful driver of our lives. I dare not change this in myself, even though my upbringing and experiences forces me to continuously re-evaluate and question this... and so with my resolution not to change this in myself, I become a slave to it as well... willingly... for emotions, may it be happiness or sadness, is what makes me believe that I am still alive.

With all my ramblings, in the end, my only desire in life is to have a stable family. To have what I never had when I was a child. To provide all these experiences to my family sans the uncontrolled cruelties that life dishes out.

They say that people go through stages in life... at my age, my attention is now in consolidating what I have worked on all my life and making a quiet and uneventful retirement soon... Enjoying the fruits of my labor and to start giving back to society...

Unfortunately, nothing is assured in this world. Success and failure cannot be determined until we pass on to our next life, whatever form that may be... only then can we judge a person on whether he has done what he set out to do.

Happiness and fulfillment is the same thing... Happiness and sorrow are all temporary. It is the sum of all our life experiences and how we vi