Complementary Relationship

I remember a short story in my Primary School Chinese textbook many many years ago.
*cough cough*

The story tells of a blind man and a cripple who cannot walk. These 2 guys live under the same roof, but are always at loggerheads with each other.

Think of them as 2 grumpy man, unhappy with their personal disabilities. When you put 2 such men together, there are bound to be conflicts.

In simple mathematical terms,
Grumpy + Grumpy = Damn Grumpy.

One night, while the 2 men were sleeping, the cripple was awaken by the smell of smoke, and realise that the entire house was on fire.

Being unable to move, he shouted for his blind friend to wake up. The blind obviously couldn't make his way around to avoid the scorching flames and falling obstacles to get out of the house.

So the blind man moved towards the voice of his crippled friend, and carried him on his back.

And together, the crippled gave directions and the blind provided the footwork needed to escape the burning house.

After the incident, these 2 men grow close and started helping each other more.

A happy ending! ^_^

In real-life, relationships are about complementing each other's shortfalls.

When the blind and the cripple combine, they become 1 pair of eyes, 1 pair of legs, and 2 brains.

A working complementary relationship creates synergy, and maximise the potential of the outcome.

Like an organisation, the reporting team cannot move without forecast data from Sales. And Sales cannot make projections without past data from the reporting team.

Funan centre becomes the IT hub that all Singaporeans know today only because we have all the competing IT retail outlets to be housed together to create a mega IT mall.

Similarly, a marriage is about a man and woman complementing each other, offering what they can give, and benefiting when they lack.

That is why one plus one gives a value more than two.

So make love, not war.