When someone asks what contribution you have made, meanwhile you are just an ordinary person. What will you say?

It think everyone has the same hope that they want to contribute to people’s life, nation, family, friends, or just their love one. The different is how big and wide their willingness, their level, and their unit to contribute.

There is tricky question especially for someone who has, is, or will conduct an interview, especially for job, scholarship, or partnership. For someone who asks about others contribution, they often expect something big. For someone who asked, they often always try to make what they did look big. At the end, all of us trap in the idea that a contribution must be big and wide. That idea makes some people who not extraordinary in their achivement and all aspect in their life quite hard to answer the question about contribution. I am not the exception.

I am just an ordinary person, if someone asks me what was my contribution as long as I live in this world, in not serious way I would say “nothing”, because the contribution I have made not enough for my contribution target just like in my mind and my heart. But I can’t answer that while I am in an interview. So, I prepare diplomatic answer to justify my little contribution or to make what I have done is seen as contribution. Sadly, I always forget to deliver my diplomatic answer that I had prepare. Even in my last interview 3 days ago, I can not fully remember, what I said about my contribution to the interviewer. I just remember the interviewer cut my answer because he thinks my answer not relate with the question. I admit it, I am too nervous to think and elaborate what I had to say in that moment. I didn’t utter a single word of the diplomatic answer I had prepared. I don’t know it’s good thing or bad thing, that’s because of my subconscious refuses to lie, God keeps me for saying too much, or just my bad for memorizing. May God bless me in luck.

Reflection from that moment, there is one question stuck on my mind? Am I sure I have made a contribution in my life? If yes, no matter it is, why am I confused to answer the question that I have even predicted? It is because I am too focused on trying give the best answer, so I impressed them even with my little action. It just make me totally wrong.

Hey ordinary me, you just to be honest and accept if you haven’t contributed as much as you and others expected. Just say it loud and bold that you have tried to make any contribution based on your capability, your obligation, your role and function, although you often don’t run it maximally. You can say whatever you do as long as it doesn’t harm or ruin other people. Such as, when you were a student, you did every single homework and task that your teacher gave to you, you almost never missed your class, you studied diligently to get good scores, good rankings, and top university. When you enter college, you always excel your knowledge in class or campus community, you don’t just depend on your lecturer to learn something, you participated in various campus activity. When you were worker, you gave the best in your job, you hold your job with integrity, professionalism, and full responsibility. Just told your daily activity such as you have good relationship in your community, you like explore something new, you like open to discuss and listen other’s story, you read news and fun fact article, even you can tell that you like debate with your friend to influence or give new perspective about current issue that happening in this country. All of those can you claim as contribution, eventhough that’s not effect many people. You can find and solve your own problem, you don’t have criminal record, you are not a burden for your friend, family, and country, It’s all normal for you who only have limited capital.

You are not president or parliamentarian, so you can’t change bad policy. You are not billionaire, so you can’t bring people escape from poverty trap. You are not professor, so you can’t give greatest idea and exact calculation to solve the complex problem. All of those beyond of ordinary person and I think we all know that. So, Dear Mr and Mrs Asker, please being polite and fair in assessing someone’s contribution. There are conditions that pressure a person to be unable to contribute more. That’s why this person needs your opportunity to expand its capital, so this person can accellerate its contribution.