5 Seconds

What can happen in five seconds?

A man can fall in love in five seconds. A woman can relieve herself from anger after a hug of five seconds.

To a soldier in battlefield, watching his comrades die one by one, that five seconds may be the longest stretch in his life. To a mother witnessing her baby smile for the first time, five seconds pass too quickly.

To me, five second was how long it took me to sprint from the escalator to the train entrance. It is something my brain always does. When I get anxious, that stopwatch in my brain would turn on its timer. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Just as I stepped into the yellow zone, the door closed right in front of me. There was nothing I could do about it.

It was one of those days. My heart was heavy. My head was cloudy. My body was tired. My soul, fatigue. So I sat on the bench with my shoulders slumped. My heavy slingbag sat on my lap.

“The next train is five minutes away.”

I heard a voice from my right.

“Would you like some cookies?”

I turned to look at her.

“You look like you haven’t eaten anything all day.”

She was right. I don’t know how she knew. I just gave her a slight smile and took one cookie from her hand.

She kept quiet at first. Not pressing me to talk. I was still out of breath from the sprint just now. And then she started to talk and I listenend. Occasionally, I asked questions.

I found out that her husband just left her. She had 3 kids, all children. She didn’t know what to do. She asked me about my family. She asked me what should she do?

I told her that frankly, I don’t know what she should do. She was on the side of the world that I have never been in, and I pray never will. But I also told her that ‘I am in a business of helping people to save and grow their money’. Maybe in that sense, I could help her. So I gave her my card.

Little did I know that it was not only the beginning of a lifetime of loving friendship, but a start of a business empire. Long after that five-minute conversation, continued in the train before her stop, I would tell a story about how I met my business partner to make an important statement to anyone needing inspiration – that anything is possible when you keep going and believing.

All of our success stories can be traced to that single moment. Just because she decided to extend kindness, and I replied also with kindness. It all started with that five-second gap.

Anything is possible.

Keep going.