Farewell Asian Pundit

I stared into the hollowness of an impending departure. My denial and unspoken resistance are not strong enough to cease his flight—off to a new world he may have already prepared for, while gripping on the now and more years on the physical realm that may never come.

It was Wednesday when I wrote the first paragraph of this entry, after learning that my first-ever boss Michael Alan Hamlin was slowly losing his battle with cancer. With my feet and hands in a hurry, I didn't lose the chance to see him, bed-ridden and hooked on tubes. He was far from the strong and towering man I knew, and yet when I looked into his sparkling but fading blue eyes, his light was still there.

I touched his hair and he stared at me. Tears welled up in my eyes and I started to shiver. "I hope you still remember me. I just want to thank you for everything." Those were the only words I was able to mutter. There were no words to say.

Two days after, I got a call from a friend telling me that he already passed away. In the long waiting hours before that call, I kept praying for his recovery, even though I knew chances were slim. 

This is a man I have respected since first seeing him on Google search results. Truth be told, I treat him as a "professional dad", a mentor, and most of all, the writer I wish to emulate should God and the years ahead of me would allow this mind to know and stretch as much as his did. The first time we exchanged e-mails, I was a student doing a research on the profession I will later take on. He was a graceful respondent—providing me with information that would help me to pass my subject, despite my amateur writing and obvious academic approach to e-mail interviewing. Months later after graduation, I sent him an email inquiring for a possible job position and just like that, he hired this newbie-college-graduate-without-any-actual-job-and-corporate-dressing-style-experience as his editorial assistant.

Powerhouse M&M
Monette and Mike set up TeamAsia,
an award-winning
strategic marketing and communications firm 

Here you go, revised. That's the sentence he would attach to the articles I would send him for review and editing. It was an understatement—all my articles would come back to me without any trace of its previous state. I can barely recognize it. Edited, changed, re-arranged, re-organized. And that's the only word I would hear from him "revised".

In the years that I worked with him, he was very patient in correcting my work, helping me on my articles, coaching me on interviews, providing a tip or two. I appreciate that he trusted me enough to take care of his big clients. And when I mess up at times, he would ask me to take the back seat as he sorted things out.

Author of four best-seller books on marketing, founder of TeamAsia (my first employer), a sought-after marketing and communications consultant, an expert on investing in Asia... superlative descriptors for Michael Alan Hamlin are many. But I would know him too as the loving husband to his Monette, a caring father to his children, playing (almost real) Santa Claus to cheer up children on Christmases, and an avid promoter of the Philippines as an investment destination. Oh yes, while Filipinos are condemning this country for all its flaws, Sir Mike would write articles that would attract more foreign investors to set up shop.

Sir Mike, your Monette, Bea, Cara, Niccolo, James, Cris and dog Bugsy will sorely miss your presence. You are their strength and favorite go-to person, the cushiony pillow they hug for warmth. While it is true that you have many more articles to write and people to lead, heaven and its angels wanted you on their side now. My only prayer is for your loved ones to find comfort in all the fond memories you left with them. God's got your back, and theirs.

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. - Psalm 90:12