I learned a life lesson from the Power Rangers.
Right from the moment I opened my eyes, I knew that I almost missed the show. I rushed from the bed to the living room and punched the TV remote button — I cannot miss the episode of my favorite Sunday morning TV show anymore. Thankfully, the show just started.
My late Dad was observing from the corner of the room, chuckling when he saw me limping on my way to the sofa in front of the TV. Oh, by the way, he’s the one who’s responsible for naming his son after a music genre. My name is Jazz, my Dad was a Jazz musician, and ironically, I don’t play any musical instruments. Sorry to disappoint you, Dad. “Watching Power Rangers again, huh?” he said. I nod. Power Rangers is an American entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise Super Sentai.
My Dad and I somehow watched the show together. After around 10 minutes, he asked me a question. “Hey Jazz, did you know why the Rangers prefer to save the world rather than finishing their meals or hanging out with their friends, even though it sounds more fun and relaxing compared to fighting monsters that can costs them their life?”, he said. I eyed him with curiosity. “It’s because they know the key to success. The very recipe for being successful…and that is the ability to delay self-gratification,” he answered. Telling your 8 years old son the key to success while he was watching the latest episode of Power Rangers might be a little bit too much — trust me, he’d rather see how the monster-of-the-week writhe in agony rather than listening to your Dad’s preach. I ended up ignoring what my Dad said and continue watching the Rangers slashing down their enemies with starry eyes.
Fast forward to 12 years later, I hit one of my low points in my life. I messed up big time back then — my grade had been downgrading, I had been a very lazy person (according to my Mom — thanks Mom), and I couldn’t be proud of anything about myself. It just felt like everything just seems wrong. One day, my best friend asked me to volunteer for TEDxJakarta, a passionate community interested in spreading remarkable ideas to the city’s keenest minds who will take the ideas and use them as a catalyst for change in their respective communities (taken from their website).
They have been featuring some of Jakarta’s brightest mind as speakers and screened some videos taken from their official website during their events. At one of the events that I helped to organize, I watched a TED video that struck me like a lightning and reminded me of what my dad told me when I was watching Power Rangers on that Sunday morning. Watch the short video below:
When you were on your low points in your life, listening to something that you can really relate to can deal a serious impact on yourself. The video above reminded me about the simple thing my Dad told me when I was a kid:
To delay self-gratification is the key to be successful.
I hit my low points in my life thanks to my procrastinating behavior. And because of the video, I finally got the wake-up call and organized myself better back in the past. I couldn’t imagine how myself will be like if I keep on procrastinating — maybe I will do a very boring job with a minimum wage in Jakarta, simply because I couldn’t delay self-gratification and prefer to do something more fun rather than doing something difficult but rewarding. Just like how Power Rangers chose to ditch their lunch break or leave their family because they know if they didn’t do it, the consequences will affect their lives in a really, really bad way.
Now I’m working in Japan, which is a true privilege for an Indonesian like me. After looking back to the past, I’m really looking forward to the day when I can interrupt my future son’s/daughter’s TV time, just to preach about how important it is to delay self-gratification.
To end the story, allow me to post a GIF of my childhood hero here as a tribute:
I don’t care how childish this might sound, but I just want to say that my childhood was saved by the Power Rangers. And oh — I still do watch their most recent TV series sometimes. Age is just a number, eh? 😆
This blog is the #20 of the twenty-five blogs that we are publishing daily, one blog each day from Jan 7th until 31st — written by twenty-five of our members, sharing topics regarding “Change” — to celebrate the official change of our new company name, from HDE to HENNGE on Feb 1st.
For more information about the change in our company name: https://www.hde.co.jp/en/about-us/trade-name-changed.html
