mrs martina chan, my geog teacher,told us a short story in between lessons..

It was about this josephian, older than us by just one year, one of e sec 4s last year who came back to get their o's result.. well, everyone of our seniors came back, and everyone was anxious and everything.. this guy, mrs chan said, was quite a quiet guy, does his work well bt always didnt really put in the effort for geog.. always jus skimmed through his text and focuses on other subjects in geog class.. main reason why.. he always score well in the small little tests and he grew complacent.. then e o's came, and went through jus like tht.. we didn noe how exactly he prepared, didnt noe how exactly he felt and gone through.. yet always it would be reflected in the results.

v obviously, he spent more time in his other subjects, and it was geog tht pulled him down.. he wasnt tht bad, according to mrs chan, he got a 12 or 13 points, enough to go to a fairly good jc.. yet he was the only guy in his geog class tht didnt get a distinction.. imagine u, thinking u are always so good and pro in tht subject actually lost to everyone in tht same class.. while everyone is in high spirits, he had to swallow his pride and keep mum about everything.. u feel that defeat that u know u are the cause for it in the first place.. how u wish u could start over again..

he cried. in a corner. then a friend called mrs chan, asked her what he should do to help tht poor soul. of cos, wad done's done, u couldnt change tht mark into a distinction band. u could only help so much, and thr's only sympathy, no empathy.. nxt few days, mrs chan said.. he got into even further depression. tht was when his girlfriend left him, because he was nt clever enough..mayb not clever for her standard, cos she gt single digit and everything.. jus like tht, one exams led to so many complications. and it jus boiled down to your attitude towards work. i cant imagine how tht guy felt. bt somehow noone really cares, cos he was jus an ordinary guy, his story would be forgotten as quickly as it was once told, then he would continue his life somewhere somehow, his own true feelings shown in his own pace, only he knows his own story best.

jus one short story, a break from lesson. a mere 5 mins or so. it led me to think of couple of stuff..
firstly. that examinations by themselves are so much inferior to the importance of friendship and family, the ppl you loved.. it is basically because of them that you work hard, because of them tht u wanna prove, because of them tht u are willing to burn so much of midnight oil and grew all worried about. nt entirely true, cos u could be proving to yourself, bt without anyone to support u, to be at ur back all e time.. thr'snt really any point in doin well. yes, you prove to yourself u did work hard.. bt tht's it, full stop. how bout u prove to urself and then others see ur capability too and then thr's joy, sadness and every emotions conjoined into one.. humans are emotional beings anyway.. when all ur friends are celebrating, u would wanna be with them too.. bt u jus cant because u failed nt urself, bt the people around u too..

secondly, only through really hard times, that u see ur real friends tryin to help u.. tryin their best to bring light back upon ur path. look at his anonymous friend, we dunno whether he did really console him, yet his heart was pure, he wanted to help him.. then look at his gf nw, she left him jus because he failed once. we go around being with friends, we shagged, cheered, hanged out.. bt who is willing to share his blood and sweat for another friend when the need arise. he can be ur best friend, bt when u are in trouble, he will find excuses and make it seem like he is worse off..and tht's e beauty of it all, friendship.. u jus feel tht person, u wanna be thr for him.. its nt so much of him being thr for u.. bt u are the one initiate it now, somehow he's important enough to be part of u..u jus wanna care. wholeheartedly. no strings attached.