Friendship

If someone asks you this question:

"What are you proud about yourself?"

What and how would you answer?
Someone asked me that yesterday, and I had alot to say to him.


But soon enough, another question shot out at me, "What is the most valuable thing you've learnt in your JC life?"

AWESOME. I got a whole bunch of formulas and knowledge I could reiterate and emphasize over and over again, but not this time.


"What is the most valuable thing you've learnt in your JC life?"

Well, I would strongly agree that I've learnt a whole deal of knowledge in JC.

From Electrophilic Substitution Mechanisms to Double Slit Experiments.
From The Invisible Hand of the Market to 3SPs and 2DPs.
And how double angle formulas make your vision split into two.

But all these are trivial. T-R-I-V-I-A-L.
All these stuff, take time, a loooong time to learn and to master.
I have to confess, my brain can't take all the definitions in my Chem notes.

But are these subjects which have such a huge chasm of distictiveness and contradiction between one another the most valuable thing you've learnt???

Well, some may say so, but not for me.


What's my answer then, for that perpetually perplexing question?

FRIENDSHIP.
Not just ordinary friendship, not friendship that will definitely last, but friendship forged because of a kind heart.



Meridian Junior College is like any other school.
We have the cool, the emo, the nerds, the sporty, the groupies, the slackers, any type of personalities you can find in any school in Singapore.

So that means, we also have the outcasts.

I know a few people, both from my batch, the previous and the next, who are constantly being ostracized from their classmates, from their "peers".

Don't look at me, you know who I'm talking about, there're bound to be a few in your school too.


People find it difficult to "click" with these lost souls.

These are what people in the world would think:
"All these people want is attention, what's their problem?"
"Why are they so arrogant, what's their problem?"
"This guy is so vulgar and rude, what's his problem?"
"He's so childish, what's his problem?"
"He has no mind of his own, what's his problem?"
"They think they look cool in that? What's their problem?"


Well, they are true. To a certain extent.
They DO have problems.

And their problem, could be amazingly similar to others with the same personality.
It was not in their DNA, it was cultivated from young.


This is what He, who is wise would think:
"He seeks attention, he could have a family who neglects him."
"He's proud of himself, he may have been influenced from his arrogant father."
"He has low sensitivity in this speech, his previous friends must have been vulgar."
"Due to his immaturity, he must be suffering from low self esteem."
"He follows and doesn't lead, he has no confidence in himself"
"He wants to be known in school, may be he's not acknowledged in his youth."

Now, compare these opinions with the ones before.
Which do you think is the mature and optimistic point of view?



Truthfully speaking, it is not easy to think this way, I've tried and tried.
But slowly and surely, a day will come when insultive thoughts are outweighed by compassion and sincerity.

Through my days in JC, I've learnt something which will never leave my mind - "Hurt people tend to hurt people."

Using that phrase of understanding, I have learnt less to point fingers and laugh at others. But instead, link hands and cure their hearts one step at a time.


THAT is the most valuable thing I have learnt in JC.