Could it be a BLESSING in disguise?

Sleeping at the void deck of an HDB (Public Housing) flat when a gang fight broke out and having tatoos on both his hands got him four years behind bars and six strokes of the cane. This young man claimed that he was sabotaged and implicated. But, I am not sure why he still pleaded guilty.

Incidentally, he told me that when serving his jail sentence, there was a period of time when he was feeling very down and depressed and a prison officer passed him a copy of my motivational book to read. I am encouraged to hear that. By the way, he has recently been released.

He has turned over a new leaf. In fact, he even asked me where to have his tatoos removed. Out of teenaged ignorance, self-pleasure and peer pressure, he did the tatoos, but now he knows that the tatoos are not serving him any good at all. He has also come to a self-realisation that he has often been perceived negatively and disadvantaged in many ways because of the tatoos. Knowing such negative consequences, he is now telling his friends not to repeat his mistake. He will soon be enlisted into the two-year National Service.

I encouraged him to put the past behind him and move on in life, set new directions, work hard and live a decent life. He nodded in humble agreement. The eagerness to move on was so sincere that I could see it in his eyes. I gave him a good handshake. He was greatly appreciative. I am glad he is changed.

Whether justice was done in his case or not, it is a thing of the past now. There is no point brooding over it. Leave the baggage behind, get up, move on and soar to greater height. Whatever had happened happened with a purpose, the price has been paid, it could even be a blessing in disguise!