Like me, I am sure you all have a dream! My question to you is:How bad
do you want it? How far are you willing to go to achieve your dream?
I don’t know what your dreams are, but for me, ever since I was a little
girl I wanted to be a TV reporter. Guess what? I made it! I remember the
first time I did a TV report, I was so nervous and I stumbled terribly.
My boss yelled at me! "Victoria, just quit! You are useless!”
His yelling didn’t discourage me. In fact, he pushed me to want to be a
successful reporter, seen by the world reporting on the biggest news of
the day. But I never had that chance.
Until, a plane crashed! And changed my life forever.
New Flash
February 4th 2015, a TranAsia plane crashed into the Keelung River in
Taipei. REPEAT, a TranAsia plane crashed into the Keelung River in
Taipei. Go now, go now! That was the message I got from my boss.
I am sure you remember the shocking images from the dash cam, showing
the plane clipping the highway before tumbling into the river.
The video went viral. The whole world was watching!
My cameraman and I rushed to the crash site to cover the accident from
11 am. Every hour, I stood in front of the camera, giving live updates
on the latest rescue efforts. After working for 6 hours straight, I was
exhausted! My stomach was growling and my legs were shaking. Finally, I
could finally take a break and get some food for me and my cameraman. So
I went back to the office to get supplies while my cameraman continued
filming.
I had to be back by 7:00 pm for our prime time news, the most watched
program. Since the crash site was only 15 minutes away, I left the
office at 6, giving myself one hour! Plenty of time right?
Wrong! It took me 15 minutes waving like a mad person just to stop one
cab. And that’s not the worst. After I got on the cab. I was stuck in
traffic for another half an hour.
Time ticking…heart pounding. Oh my God, I’m freaking out. I’m the top
news and the whole world will be watching. Time 6:45 and the cab is not
moving.
And then I noticed – the only things that were moving were motorcycles.
At that moment I asked myself: “Victoria, how bad do you want it?”
Without thinking, I jumped out of the cab. Stood in the middle of a
traffic jam, stuck out both arms and stopped two motorcycles. Without
asking, I jumped onto the back of one and grabbed the motorcyclist by
the waist. Why? This way, he couldn’t get rid of me even if he tried.
The man was in total shock! He turned around and yelled “what are you
doing? You crazy woman. Get off my bike!” I told the man, “Sir, I am a
reporter and I have to get to the crash site right away. Please take me
there.” He replied “I don’t know where that is. Get off my bike.”
Then I heard the female motorcyclist giving directions to the man. So
without thinking, I jumped off his bike and hopped onto hers. I grabbed
her by her waist and asked her to take me. She too was shocked and said
“What are you doing? You can’t do this.”
I was not going to take no for an answer. I begged her: “Please you have
to get me there or I could get fired. I still have two elderly parents I
have to feed. Please have mercy!” She finally agreed, but I guess she
couldn’t resist because I refused to let go of her waist. By the time
she brought me to the crash site, it was exactly 6:59, one minute before
my live cross.
I quickly jumped off the motorcycle. I dashed in front of the camera,
grabbed the microphone and, wiped the panic look off my face:
3,2,1
”Good Evening! This is Victoria Jen reporting live from the Transasia
crash site in Taipei”
I couldn’t believe I made it. I was finally seen reporting the world’s
biggest news of the day.
Before I continue, please know: I don’t usually hijack motorcycles or
shamelessly grab strangers by their waist! But I did it because I wanted
to report on the world’s biggest news bad enough.
This experience made me realize, if you want to achieve your dream bad
enough, it will come true. So let me ask you: 3…2…1… “What is your dream
and how bad do you want it?”
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