Somehow, the mention of Steven's weaknesses 2009AF discussion AF post#1718; #1720; #1721; #1723 ; #1753 had me recalling Rudyard Kipling's IF poem on what a real man should be. So upon refreshing my memory of it, I was intrigued to see how it relates to Steven. Below is my naturally biased summation. (First penned in AF# 1726 8/22/2009 reposted here 10/16/2010; updated April 5 2014)
1st stanza
IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
Those of us who follow Steven’s news know that his career path is anything but smooth, even now its ride is bumpy. From the onset, his first foray into the entertainment industry was launched from a negative starting point, unlike his peers' which took off from ‘ground zero’ as newbie. His company promotional slogan, "He’s not Hok-Yau (Jacky Cheung); he’s not Lai-Ming (Leon Lai); he’s not Hak Kan (Hacken Lee); he’s Ma Chun Wai (Steven)" backfired invoking instead the ire of the popular HK heavenly kings' fans respectively. He was young then and innocent, only 22 years of age, full of ideas and ideals, and had yet to learn the true trade of a consummate entertainer; that of balancing the inner self vs the public persona. Thus his private self tussled with his public persona; his ideals struggled with the demands of reality; his innate integrity grappled with the hypocrisy of showbiz. During Steven’s 3 years of ‘initiation’, Doubt reigned supreme in him, having driven Confidence to the darkest recess of his being. It cast fears on Steven in his ability to perform as a performer singer. "A somber person like me standing on stage with fingers raised in victory, acting cute and naive; I would not be able to stand it, neither, I believe, would the audience." With Confidence so imprisoned, Steven was at the mercy of Doubt’s insidious whisperings. He was ready to quit, until a helping hand rescued Confidence from its confinement, and subsequently lit a new path for it to discover new heights. To these days, Steven still feels indebted to his mentor, Catherine Tsang, and openly called himself Zhan Jie’s lead horse until the media arbitrarily put him in Stephen Chan party (2010), and that's that. (tn: SM: What party do I belong to?) When he had doubted himself, Ms. Tsang was there to inject him with confidence serum.
