Random Musing about Life
The army bidded goodbye to 2 generals retiring recently. BG Tan Chuan Jin and MG Chan Chun Sing. Apparently they are going to contest for MP seats in the upcoming GE under the PAP.
Labelled as the "Big Guns" and potential successors for the 4th generation political leaders of Singapore- it came as a surprise to me that our PM himself described MG Chan as "a humble RI boy who started as a boy scout...became the Chief of Army..but not for long..."
At the same time, it is a little unsettling to discover how politics and military can go hand in hand- how retired army generals make their transition into politics seamlessly. Of course, their credentials are undisputable, however- this is not what i want to share today.

In the "goodbye" interview with TCJ, i found something particularly meaningful..."Among the several defining moments experienced by BG Tan during his army career, one of the most significant was during his Battalion Tactics Course when he was holding an appointment for an attack mission. He elaborated," I rememebered that as one of my lowest point in my life in our Army. The mission was going to bits and it was a hugely humbling experience as i realised that no one had a natural right to lead if he does not work hard at it and that we must always keep learning. We must work at our ability to lead, to inspire trust, respect and confidence, and to always maintain competency in the things we are expected to do."

How true!
As a general, there are so many potential career defining moments, but he choose to talk about a experience which portrayed him in a negative light, because he was talking not about his success, but one of his failures.
This lead me to wonder whether in life- failure allows one to learnt the most out of an experience?
失败乃成功之母. Now how true is that?