Uncovering Gifts

Speaking of Korean drama, the episode that was shown yesterday was simply awe inspiring. I was captivated by the wisdom shown by the head of the kitchen, Mrs Zheng when she decided to stepped down from her post due to pressure from the higher attority. She was invited to stand before the emperor and told of her decision to step down. The emperor was hesistant at first but due to her illness, she had to leave. However being a just woman, she decided to place a request before the emperor. She had in mind two candidates for her post, Mrs Choi and Mrs Han. Her request was to have a competition so that they may be able to battle out in cooking to see who was better. The winner would then become the head of the kitchen while the loser had to leave the compounds of the palace which is according to custom. Her decision to do this was to appoint a person fairly based on her cooking skill and also to prevent the wrong people with alterior motive to stand as head of kitchen.

Each contestant were allowed to choose a helper. Mrs Choi chose Jin Ying while Mrs Han chose Changjin. However, there was a problem. Changjin had lost her sense of taste after tasting the soup that was drank by the prince who got ill thereafter in order to find the cure. There was not much of a cure for her. All the medicine man that she saw could only ask her to wait for time to heal. She was discouraged and lost all hope.

Mrs Han continued encouraging her and told her not to give up. She mention that to be a cook, you need two very important characteristics. One was the sense of taste. Mrs Choi, Jinying and herself had that characteristics. However, there was another characteristics and it was the sense of providing alternative methods or ingredient to match a taste. This she found in Changjin alone. It was a gift. Therefore, Mrs Han needed her very much as their combine effort would only allow them to win the competition. Mrs Han then challenge her to prepare two dishes without tasting it but asked her to use her ability to taste. Her effort soon paid off and she succeeded. It was certainly a moral boost for Changjin. She would not have realise it if Mrs Han did not encourage her continously in realising her gift and potential. Even if she had a defect, she could still suceed.

I was captivated by the message that was brought across that short episode. Leaders or elders had a role in mentoring the young ones. It is so crucial for us as leaders or elders to spot the strength of one person and help build him or her up naturally to realise her gift and potential. Though at times we feel so insecure with out handicap or weaknesses, it should not stop of us from succeeding and we should not give up. Its takes the effort one someone to realise the potential of another. I could not help but reflect myself as a leader in the CF. How often have I encourage someone whom I felt could be capable of something? I knew and seen alot of people from CF who were gifted in certain things, be it character or skill. It did occur to me then the reason why CF always have a problem with manpower and seeing the same people doing so many things. I realise that it is very important to encourage and train the young ones especially in the CF. Time is running out. Can I encourage someone that I know?