two lives

Comparing the lives and career paths of two Singaporean pioneer artists -- G and K -- i think yields some quite illuminating insights. Some similarities between the two -- both were idealists (you had to be, to be an artist in those days, and perhaps even now, though less so), both had to build (from scratch) the cultural infrastructure and institutions that they felt was needed to enable the arts to exist here, both found themselves at odds with the prevailing political, social and cultural climates here in Singapore. G eventually chose self-exile, renouncing his ties with this place and making a new home elsewhere; K endured a few years in prison for his political activism and had his citizenship revoked by the state, before it was reinstated many years later. Both men were given the Cultural Medallion by the Singapore government, within a mere 7 years of each other.
.
On the face of it, G had all the advantages that K did not -- he came from a well-to-do family, studied medicine overseas, came back here and practised as a doctor, using the income from his medical practice to support his artistic endeavours. K was not so lucky -- he did not have the privilege of a university education, and the circles he moved in were leftist, not so elite, more concerned with the experiences of the working classes. And of course G worked in the language of the minority elite -- English, while K, though bilingual, wrote in Chinese.
.
Yet it is K who managed to leave behind an enduring legacy, who built institutions that last to this day, more than a decade after his death. G, on the other hand, was involved in a great number of projects, none of which was very long-lived, and eventually gave it all up altogether and chose to distance himself from everything entirely by moving overseas with his family.
.
i've never met either of them. But i have read G's memoirs, and i have heard the stories that friends in the arts tell about K. i don't wish to over-simplify anything, and goodness knows i understand that sometimes life just takes us down paths that we would never have chosen or wanted for ourselves -- but i do suspect that these men's respective career- and life-paths, were very much shaped by their personalities. Comparing their lives and accomplishments, i think there's something to be said for making careful choices, working consistently and steadily towards one's chosen goals, and also, being open and humble enough to re-evaluate one's choices in the light of changing circumstances. For what it's worth, i think i would have very much liked to get to know K. i can't quite say the same for G.
.
Character is fate, indeed.
.
.