Bali Reflections Part 3: Success is Overrated

A highlight of our Bali retreat was to climb the Mount Batur as a team.

We started driving towards the base of the mountain at 2am and began our climb at 4am.

This was no leisure climb, it was a race against the Sun.

The sunrise was around 6.15am so we had to reach the summit before that in order to catch the sunrise. Otherwise it would be a wasted trip.

Mount Batur stands at 5,600ft. No easy feat for us. So we got mountain guides to “bring us up” safely and quickly.

He gathered us at the base of the mountain and began a safety brief. In short, everyone sticks together and no one gets left behind.

He then introduced his fellow guides one by one and told us to remember their faces as there will be other groups climbing at the same time.

As he introduced them, I noticed one of them was a little girl. She was probably in her teens and she was carrying a backpack. The backpack looked heavy.

As we started climbing, it was getting a little boring so I decided to start a conversation with her.

She was shy at first but later on she shared her story as a mountain guide.

Her name was Rose (I changed the name as she was minor). Being a mountain guide, she had to climb Mount Batur DAILY!

As a father myself, I could never imagine my own daughter climbing a 5600ft mountain daily to earn a living.

I went on to ask her about her backpack and she opened it up. It was not safety equipment or her own belongings. It was icy cold drinks covered with insulation foam.

“For you and your friends later”, she said happily.

I stopped in my tracks immediately and said, “But…. they are so heavy!”

“It’s ok! Not heavy”, she laughed it off.

Actually, my real concern was that she might be carrying all these drinks for nothing because I was carrying my own water. Not wanting to disappoint her, I kept quiet and continued climbing.

We chatted more despite her limited English and my limited Bahasa. She pointed to the other guides and said, “My brothers.”

In fact, both her elder brothers were our mountain guides too.

Chatting with her really helped to pass time and soon we were near the summit. She enthusiastically took out her icy cold drinks and I promptly opened up my wallet to buy them.

“That’s the least I could do for them”, I thought.

I asked my colleagues to buy as well. Interestingly, the drinks were not exorbitantly expensive. They were selling at a premium but still worked out to be around S$2 per drink.

We happily took our photos at the summit with the sunrise and promptly descended the mountain before it gets too hot.

The descent was tougher than the climb. Many of us were falling and tripping. Rose, despite her small frame, would always give us a helping hand whenever needed. Throughout the whole ordeal, she was always carrying a smile.

In our society, we often credit our own success based on our effort. However, we do not realise how much of it is actually our environment.

Where we were born, where we grew up, who are our parents, who are our friends.

For Rose, with her work ethics and tenacity, I have no doubt she will achieve great success if she was born and raised in a metropolitan city like Singapore. However, being in the rural village of Bali, the chances of her escaping from his current situation are much slimmer.

Her brothers are also working hard as mountain guides but it will be hard to imagine a different life for them in the future.

My last reflection from our Bali retreat is simple but powerful.

Be Grateful.

Be grateful when you achieve success in your life. It may be academic, career progression, financial wealth etc.

Show gratitude to those around you who helped to shape you. No matter how small or remote a role they may be, be thankful.

Be Kind.

Be kind to the less fortunate. Their situation may not always be a result of their own wrongdoing. It could just be a fate (or bad luck).

Maybe they had a broken family, maybe they had a rough childhood or maybe they don’t have access to education. So be kind to the less fortunate ones because it could have been you in their shoes.

Thank You and Goodbye

After the descent, I bid Rose goodbye and was about to return to the hotel. While I waited for my driver, I casually asked her about the rest of her day.

“Now I am going to school”, she said.

“You are going to school NOW??”, my jaw dropped.

“Yes, everyday Mount Batur then school”, she replied cheerfully.

“Ain’t you tired now?”, I exclaimed.

“A little but need money”, she lamented.

At this point, my heart sank and was on the verge of tears.

Before I burst into tears, I promptly thanked her for being an excellent guide, bought another drink from her and hopped my car.

It was 7.45am. Her school was starting at 8.15am.

We may climb Mount Batur once in our lives, but for Rose, she will do it again tomorrow…. and it is not her fault.