COMPROMISE

I am standing under the mini arch which acts as the entrance to the Language Square or Serambi Ilmu of my school. When it is completed, the place would be used for language activities like poetry recital and public speaking.

Actually there was a tiff between the contractor and my friend who is in charge of the project with me. You see, when both of us designed the square we had wanted the middle of the square to have a star-like flower pattern which is red or maroon in colour but what we got was a squarish design which is dark grey. Well, my friend was not too happy as that was not according to the design that we wanted.

It seemed that the contractor also had some problems with getting reddish coloured tiles and also his workers did not follow the design.

There was an impasse between the teacher and contractor and I as the other coordinator was called in. I figured that to ask the man to break up the tiles and re-do it was such a waste. Furthermore, he had agreed to do the project at a very low cost as part contribution to the school. But I did agree that the square shaped design was unattractive and would spoil the Square.

I thought and thought and thought of what to do and am happy to say that everything is settled. I suggested that a raised platform be built at the very spot where the unsightly square was. This time around, we wanted tiles with flower designs on them. Thank goodness my suggestion was accepted by both parties.
In life, we do need to come up with compromises to have a win-win situation for everyone. Don't you agree?