Celebrating Humanity : The Story of Amin..

Amin came from a poor family and he was embarrassed about his parents. His friends would tease him “ Ayah Amin pengotor, selalu kutip botol dari tong sampah.” Although his dad earned a meagre income from collecting used bottles and sent the bottles back to the factory, it was enough to put food to the table for his family.

As Amin grew older, Amin got a scholarship to pursue his degree to the United States. He was very proud of himself as he didn’t need to rely on his parents. In fact he didn’t want to be acknowledged as son of his parents. Amin did very well in his study and went on to join a famous soft drink manufacturer.

After 20 years of working with the company, he was made the company’s VP for Asia Marketing. The first Asean to be given such a responsibility. For that he was interviewed by a famous business magazine. During his interview, he was asked”What was your success factor which led you to where you are?”. Amin answered “I was poor when I was young, and often my friend teased me, because I often wore torn shirts and carried an old school bag”. He said, he wanted to prove to himself that being poor doesn’t mean you can’t be successful.
For 30 years, Amin has not stayed in touch with his parents. He assumed that they died, and he didn’t care as he was living in denial, due to his successful career and lifestyle. But one day, when he was 48, he was ‘reminded’ by his young daughter, when she asked, “ Abah, ayah abah siapa? Ayah abah datuk mimi ke?”. Amin took the next flight home from the US and went straight to his parent’s house.

When he reached home, he saw an old lady sweeping the front porch. It was his mother. She turned and asked “ Amin ke? Awak Amin ke? Anak mama.....”. They hugged and they cried.Amin then asked about his dad. His mother then brought him to his dad’s room and told him that his dad has passed away a couple of years back. He became very sick ever since he read the article of Amin’s interview when he became the VP of Marketing. Amin’s cousin, Trisha read the article to Amin’s dad.

Amin’s mum then passed Amin a letter written by his dad, and one other letter. He opened that one other letter, and it was from Coca Cola Company.

It read “ Dear Enchik Abdullah, It gives me great pleasure to honour you, as one of our many stakeholders in our company, who over the years has given their dedication to helping Coca Cola Company in their everyday business, consistently making sure that the Coca Cola remains the choice of the people, while helping in environment conservation. Thank you for helping Coca Cola giving back to Mother Earth”

Coca Cola had during honoured people like Amin’s dad who collected coca cola bottles and sending back to the factory for recycling. Amin looked to his mum and said with tears in his eyes, “Mama, Amin sekarang kerja kat Coca Cola..”. His mother then asked him to read his dad’s letter.


Anakanda abah,
Abah tahu, Amin benci dan malu kat abah. Abah tau Amin marah kat abah, sebab abah miskin, abah pengotor, abah kutip botol, abah tak beli baju dan beg baru bagi Amin. Maafkan abah.
Sebenarnya, abah pun tak suka kutip botol. Tapi itu saje yang abah boleh buat. Semasa Amin bayi lagi, Amin demam panas. Tapi rumah takde ubat. Malam itu abah berbasikal ke pekan untuk beli ubat. Malangnye, abah kurang cermat, dilanggar lori. Tulang belakang abah retak and sejak hari itu, abah tak boleh buat kerja berat. Sebab itu, abah hanya terlarat kutip botol Coke dan jual balik bagi kilang, setiap botol 0.5 sen.
Abah syukur kepada Tuhan yang Amin dapat geran untuk belajar. Abah tak pernah marah Amin tak telefon balik. Abah tak marah Amin lupa kami, tapi Abah harap, Amin akan berikan yang terbaik bagi cucu abah, sebab abah tak pernah bagi yang terbaik kepada Amin.
Ayahanda Amin

(Note : This story is fictional, with intentions of highlighting the struggle of humanity)

In celebration of Humanity.

Coca Cola REFRESHES many ordinary people in the world and this got me thinking, how Coca Cola can truly be a celebration of Humanity. In today’s world, where the economy has demanded the best in people during the trying times, it will be great to sit back, and think of how little things in life, we had gone through in the past, has touched us or impacted our lives. I referenced the little thing to Coca Cola. Here are 3 stories.

1. Although fictional, in the movie “God Must be Crazy” we laughed how Xi, a bushman, thought the Coca Cola bottle was “evil” and seek to throw it off the edge of the world. But along the journey, Xi discovers civilization and more interestingly, how we have “complicated” our everyday life. Xi has thought us that humanity is indeed simple

2. Once, a friend of mine spoke of this couple who stayed in this old house. They were poor and have aged. One festivity, their elder son came home with his family to the delight of the couple. During dinner, the old mother, went to the kitchen and came out walking slowly with the aid of a cane, holding a cup of iced Coca Cola. As she was approaching the son, she tripped and the cup fell on the son’s lap. The son, burst out in ‘madness’ and scolded his mother for being clumsy (he had spend hundreds on his new pants) and remarked that, he doesn’t want Coca Cola, cause he has slight diabetes. The old mother said in tears “I am sorry son, I thought Coca Cola was your favourite every festive season. Your dad would save up 1 cent every day for one month, just before the festive season, so that he could buy you and your sisters a few bottles of Coca Cola to celebrate. I thought you liked it....”

3. I witnessed, in India, a homeless person, used an empty Coca Cola in many ways for his survival. First, he fills up the empty bottle with left-over drinks at restaurant. He also used the empty bottle to make music by blowing through the top. He hoped the music he made, was enough to get strangers to hand him a couple of Rupees. I didn’t observe long enough, but I am sure, he used the bottle in many other ways, to continue living.

There are many of such stories, compiled by Coca Cola. Enjoy reading them at Heritage : Coca Cola Stories

Many of my friends believed that Coca Cola is a significant icon in my life. They are right, but not in the ways of how it quenches my thirst, or a conversation starter, when I speak of my Coca Cola collection. In actual, Coca Cola has inspired me to write and blog about everything that relates or ‘given birth’ by the ideology of Coca Cola. Be it politics, love, humanity, hatred, colleagues, sex; only one thing matters. We must celebrate HUMANITY. Live on the Coke Side of Life

With this post, I will embark on a project which I hope will bring the Love of Humanity to everyone that enjoys Coca Cola. Please support me, and perhaps, you could drop a comment on how Coca Cola brought out the humanity in you.