That Offer

Years ago, when I graduated from university, my uncle from my mother's side called me up and asked me to join his company. He was then the Asia MD of a big corporate reinsurance brokerage firm in Singapore. He was a powerful

man, still is. 

He had called up my brother too when he graduated 5 years earlier than me. My brother rejected his kind offering, as did I, when my turn came. I knew my uncle was disappointed in us. My mum never failed to remind us of this. Actually, she still does so on occassion.

My uncle had always wanted someone from the family to join his company and grow from there. My brother and I were the only graduates close to him on his side of the family and he had pinned high hopes on us. 

I was sorry to disappoint him but at the time, I did not want to join a company through such means. Maybe I was naive, but I did not want to be viewed or treated differently by colleagues if they knew I was the bosses' niece. And also, I was rather scared to join a big MNC for my first job. Call me stupid. I know of many others who would clamour to be served up a job on a silver platter. 

An MNC for a first job would pave the way for many other good jobs to come. If I had accepted the job then, my CV would probably look vastly different now. And I would probably not end up being a public servant writing policy papers.

Anyway, I felt he was angry with me after that. For several years I kept feeling like as if he did not bother about me too much. It's gotten better in recent years and I hope our relationship improves more. 

Sometimes I think to myself: 

What if I had accepted that job 12 years ago? What if? 

If you were to ask me now what my answer would be, it might be a "maybe" instead of a definitive "no".