Life and School

Take note of the date- 17/10/2008. Today marks the end of the normal school life in JC for me. The final hurdle in teenage life is approaching hastily. I'm getting more sentimental by the day.

Life goes on as usual, but it set me thinking.

How many times have I said goodbye in my life? How many people have walked together with me on this path I've taken, and eventually left to pursue their own direction? Life is like that. In the most cliché terms, footprints were left in my heart. On times like this, I think back on the years that have passed, and I miss those good and bad times.

Teachers, I think, are particularly important. You may forget them, forget how they look like, or even their teachings and knowledge... but they have helped shape you into the person you are, and some more than others. Those few selected teachers, as distant they seem to be within a student's mind, are something irreplaceable in the heart.

I wonder, at times, how lonely a person truly is. At the end of the day, we walk our own unique paths, shaped by a unique set of people who have left imprints in us. Separation is painful, for things would never be the same as the past again. What is lost cannot be found again... because people change.

How would it be like to be a teacher? I think it is bittersweet. Bitter because the batch of students who have been with you- sharing in your jokes, amusing you with their cute antics and surprising you with their maturity and depth of thought for someone their age- for these year(s) would leave and possibly never come back again, never to impact your days at work or leave you angry, frustrated and worried. They would go and be gone when they graduate. Nevertheless, they will leave you with fond memories and a sense of achievement, for you have helped them become better persons on their own paths to greater accomplishment. They are baby birds who have grown up and hardened their wings- bound for the sky; this endlessly long cycles of graduation and fresh intakes make goodbyes just harder.

I have once comtemplated on whether teaching was a career for me. Sometime ago, I have decided against it. It is an arduous journey to take, given the amount of time, effort and commitment a good teacher needs to give of herself/himself. The mental stress and sadness makes teaching a sacred job, reserved only for those who understand the essence of it.

School attributes to a large part in our lives. In primary school, I've learnt the term 'separation'. In secondary school, I've learnt the terms 'friendship', 'appreciation' and 'leadership'. In JC, I've learnt something too... they're called 'failure', 'biasedness', 'responsibility', 'back-stabbing' and 'teachers'. It would do me well to remember these lessons, for what continues as life would just be a tough, rocky road ahead.

On the ending note, I have a few lines to add.

Alone if need be, you will change the world.

The relationships and interactions in life are but a passing phase symbolized by clothes - we change them ever so often, throw them away, but we wear them constantly during the journey.

Note to self: Maybe a few years later, when I have an urge to reminiscise about the past, I would chance upon this entry and lament for the past.