5 years service award

i used to work as a part-time casual worker in a well-known MNC during my secondary school holiday. i made a lot of new friends who were permanent employees. some had started working for this company since after finishing form 5, or right after form 3. they were a bunch of a very loyal employees whom will only leave the company after they've retired and not earlier. this company has become their retirement place, hence the name; Axxxx Retirement Home....just kidding :)

after i have graduated, i worked elsewhere for a year and re-joined this company as a permanent staff. that's a long 5 years since after i left this company to continue my studies. i met up with my old friends again, many of whom who've spotted gray hair already, married and have a bunch of kids. some have become grandparents and some of them couldn't even remember if they've known me before. i was very curious then, how could they survive working in the same old company for so many years; from a very young chap to an old lady or man now. how can one be so super loyal to serve the same company for more than a decade and spend almost three quarter of their life & soul here? i shudder at the thought of me ending up in the same position as them.

this year, i'm going to receive my 5 years service award. time really flies like nobody's business, isn't it? i don't feel proud for serving 5 unbroken years here and my thoughts on how my dear old friends survive such a long year of service came back to my mind. i have joined the crowd unintentionally! life's too comfortable here to make a change i suppose. my brain is dead and has been in the idle mode for 5 years now.

this morning i received an e-mail from my U.S. boss congratulating me for the long service. i didn't feel good about this. this is not something to be proud of at all. something must be done to change my current situation. otherwise, i'll succumbed myself to this retirement home. *shudder again*