Life is like 'cai fan': SIT student's graduation speech strikes a chord with netizens

Every graduation ceremony is crammed full of speeches, featuring everyone from the dean to the valedictorian. 

But memorable speeches? Those are few and far between. 

Jacob Lau, however, had something interesting up his sleeve for his own graduation.

He was part of the class of 2020 from the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and graduated with a Bachelor of Hospitality Business.

For a bit of flavour, Jacob centred his valedictorian speech around his love for 'cai fan' (or economy rice).

He actually managed to use 'cai fan' as an analogy for life lessons he and his fellow graduates can take as they enter adulthood and the working world.

How's that for creativity?

On Monday (April 17), Jacob shared an almost four-minute-long clip of his less-than-conventional speech on TikTok.

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@jacobjlau/video/7222605073463954696?_r=1&_t=8bfLdDcsSY5[/embed]

Jacob began his speech by mentioning how friends who've shared a meal with him can vouch for his love for 'cai fan'.

He smoothly segued into his first life lesson — don't compare yourself to others.

In reference to a situation he'd experienced at a 'cai fan' stall: "To my disappointment, I only had half the portion of rice as compared to the person before me." 

That was a lesson in itself as "there will always be someone getting more rice than you", Jacob added.

This could be someone else securing a BTO or climbing up the career ladder. 

Jacob urged his fellow friends to look inward and only compare themselves to the person they were before.

Which dishes are available?

"Just because everyone in the audience likes to eat sambal kang kong does not mean I have to eat sambal kang kong," Jacob says with a smile.

He likened this to how we can sometimes be easily swayed by a particular career path solely because of its popularity.

"As young adults and graduates of Singapore's University of Applied Learning, we should be able to envision the career we love because passion precedes everything, he stated.

Jacob's final life lesson is how there's "limited space on the plate" so if he ordered too many dishes, food will eventually fall off the plate.

This was an allegory to not be driven by money to the point of forsaking the joys of life, such as treasuring loved ones.

AsiaOne has reached out to Jacob for more information.

Needless to say, the comments section was full of praise as netizens found Jacob's advice not only relevant but relatable.

"Your boss may suck, just like the sotong u choose may not be fresh," one TikTok user wrote.

At the other end of the spectrum, this one netizen was full of negativity in their comment.

In his reply, Jacob didn't seem too flustered: "You think what you want la hor. My conscience is clear."

Pearls of wisdom

In 2017, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates offered words of advice to graduating university students via a thread of tweets.

"In the early days of Microsoft, I believed that if you could write great code, you could also manage people well or run a marketing team or take on any other task," he wrote.

The 67-year-old admitted he was wrong and learned how people have different talents, and that this should be recognised and appreciated.

He also added how important it is to "surround yourself with people who challenge you, teach you and push you to be your best self".

ALSO READ: $10k starting pay? Netizens express disbelief at NUS undergrads' salary expectations

amierul@asiaone.com

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