Maryam, you’re a genius – now be careful

 

Dear Maryam,

Congratulations on winning such a prestigious innovation competition hosted in Canada recently. Your discovery of a solution to meet pressing needs whilst preserving our environment is so critically important. So cool!

Allow me to congratulate your parents, too. They must be ever so proud, and they deserve to be.

I’m writing this letter to you in private, so please don’t share it with others as some people may get angry with me!

While I’m happy to hear of your achievement, I’m also worried about how your life can take a wrong turn right now.

Let me share my worries with you.

You have great potential. I don’t know you, but you could be a precocious teenager admired by everybody, or perhaps a quiet one who keeps to yourself while your mind soars with the stars.

The most important thing in life is the sum total of what you finally achieve at the end of it. Mozart was a musical genius when he was just a child, but it’s what he did later in life that became his legacy.

Einstein united space and time at 26, and then opened up the universe 10 years later. Young, but he wasn’t quite a child prodigy.

However, many young wunderkinder never fulfilled their promise, for one sad reason or another.

Often they never received the guidance to set them on the right path to fulfil their potential. Or they lacked the resources to polish their rough diamonds into shining stars.

On the resources part, I think you won’t have any problems here. Instead, you’re likely to be inundated with resources that it’ll create a different problem for you. That of too much, too soon.

These will be double-edged swords. There’ll be people coming to throw goodies your way. While some of the goodies are good, many are bad because they’re actually meant to glorify the givers themselves.

The goodies are especially bad if you know you haven’t earned them, even if you know you’re fully capable of earning them. Resist things that just fall into your lap.

If you end up getting a Datukship in the next few months, or even years, or feted with some glorious-sounding awards…I’d say things may have gone off-track.

Einstein once said, of a fellow scientist scorned for his many failures tackling very hard physics problems, that he didn’t agree with such scorn and that he had no respect for anybody who takes a piece of wood, looks for its thinnest part and drills as many holes there as possible.

There’s a lesson there, that what is good is never easy, and what is easy…

Develop a strong work ethic and the psychological stamina to face the challenges ahead, some of which might be because you’d probably always be taking on the tough and perhaps the impossible; there’ll be setbacks aplenty.

If the help offered to you isn’t what you need (furthering your studies, testing yourself in the real world etc), then say no. It’s more important you appear in the science textbooks of the future than some meaningless honour roll now.

The history of wunderkinder is generally not good. Many didn’t fulfil their earlier promise. Their precociousness often comes with issues ranging from unhappy family life to clinical depression that could derail any life.

I remember with much sadness the Seremban boy who went to Caltech and astounded everybody, and yet came home and died from depression. He probably had demons in his head (not literally of course) and our inability to help him probably doomed him.

(If you don’t know Caltech, look it up. Years ago, while in Los Angeles, I made a huge detour to go to Pasadena and visit Caltech and …well…just breathe its air. If you get a chance to go there, go!)

There’s another girl, who’s only half Malay and not even a Malaysian, who was lauded and rewarded, only to have her life spiral downwards because of sordid issues nobody cared about while happily exploiting her.

And another boy “genius” who wrote mathematical “formulas” and was awarded silly titles and yet couldn’t graduate from a university in Malaysia because he was too young. Stupid university aside, all the hoopla didn’t help him to grow up and fulfil his potential.

What’s important now is for you to grow up in a supportive but challenging environment and that you get every opportunity to learn and mix with people who can guide you but also toughen you up for your journey ahead.

Pushing yourself to the limits will surely mean making some sacrifices. Hold tight to your family and friends and keep a low profile while you hone your brain and heart and mind.

Build a strong foundation on these away from the glare of publicity, especially from those who have hidden intents.

The world is a tough place, and many of our kampung heroes couldn’t make it there because they were spoiled at home. Our brains are as good as anyone else’s, but our culture weakens us.

At some point, leave the country. Go where the challenge is toughest and prove yourself there. Find people as smart as you but who grew up in a harder, more competitive environment. Compete but learn from their experiences too.

And from there lead your life to wherever your destiny takes you.

Learn from another example, that of Nicole David, the world’s GOAT (Greatest of All Time) female squash player. Her talent was phenomenal from early on, but luckily, she “escaped” abroad to train, live and compete.

Had she remained in Malaysia, she’d have been showered with wealth and honours from politicians and towkays alike that would’ve made her lazy, weak and entitled.

She would’ve been a multiple Datuk in her teens, given land and property, with health tonics and sports clothing named after her. She’d have been very rich, but she never would’ve been a GOAT.

Be like Nicole – do what’s right and not what’s easy, to reach your full potential and bring honour to your parents, your country and most importantly, to humankind.

All the best Maryam.

Sincerely,

Uncle Adzhar

 - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.