Our life now

I think the past 6 months in VJC has changed me, shaped me into a different person. I can't say whether I've become a better person, but I can say I've become stronger - both physically, and mentally =).

Being in junior college, we're at an uncertain point of our lives. We come into college, with this fact in our heads, that we must do well and enter a University, if not we'd be wasting our 2 years of life. But the fact that all of us could make it into VJ, already provides some assurance to us that we will most probably be able to enter a University. That, is not a great concern for us anymore.

I think the greater pressure we face, and its is getting more and more obvious - is the heavy bearing that these 2 years have in our future lives. These 2 years dictate whether we would get into the University of our choice, and whether we'll be able to get a scholarship to finance our further studies. Well, we may not know for now what course or University we would like to enrol in, but for now, we know we want to get our best possible results, so that we may have the widest and best choices available when the time comes.

We like to play safe. So, whilist entering a good jc was our past goal towards a 'good future'. Now, entering a good University and getting a good scholarship is like an assurance to us of a 'good future'. But many may slip back and fall in this chase for a 'good future'.

These 2 years is therefore, as can be seen, very important in securing our future. And we can already see people going out of their way to take part in activities so that it'll be reflected well in their testimonial. Yes, myself included. Without consideration for my future 'testimonial', I would not have gone out of my way to try to get into more CCAs and participating in activities which would reflect well. But I have failed quite badly. Firstly because, I do not have a deep passion for the other CCAs or activities which I joined. For example, Animal Welfare Soc, I joined upon the advice that it'll be good if I held some exco position in a club. But in the end? I decided not to run for the exco. 1stly, I believe I do not have the deep interest to sustain me and make me a useful exco member. 2ndly, I have not learned how to manage my time and juggle so many activities at once. So, I decided to stick to my main sport - kayaking, which I do have a passion in.

So you see, if I went ahead and participated in activities which I had not a lot of interest in, I would find that it'll be difficult to sustain it. It would become a chore. In the event that I actually managed to keep it going for 2 years, and get a nice testimonial, it would all be artificial. So many people did CIP last time, for PEARLs. But in fact, they were not doing community service, but service to themselves, so that they may show their interviewer that they 'care for the community', when that might very well not be the case. In doing so, they are duping, lying to the interviewer. Put yourselves in the shoes of the interviewer, they are there to spot genuine qualities of people. So what if they get the impression that you have that quality because you falsely acted it out? In the end, if you should get selected, for a job perhaps, you'd still get sacked when they find out you don't possess that quality.

So why pretend to be someone we are not? It will be tiring. Like the teacher giving the talk this morning, she mentioned that past year students did a lot of CIP during their JC term, but did not do any more once they were out of JC. Yes, we know, it is for PEARLs. So, by doing CIP, they're lying that they have a spirit of volunteerism. But she encourages us to continue doing CIP and whatnot even AFTER our JC term. In effect, she's telling us - "Please lie properly and make the act more real."

But of course, we have ambitions for ourselves. We want to be successful and useful people in the future. We have only one life and do not want to live this life in vain. Like I said before, I would think it'll be good if we really dare to follow our dreams, and our passion (if we already know what it is) and not stick to the conventional route to success.

However, if we dare not deviate from the norm, and define success as getting scholarships and into good Universities, and consequently, good jobs. Then, I guess we all have to work on getting all those extra stuff onto our testmonial. But after 6 months of experience, I have something to say. Artificially trying to show good qualities is not good enough, it is lying. But if we do nothing about it, we are also equally guilty of not trying. So I think, the best way therefore, is to try to develop the qualities and interests in you as you go about building up your testimonial. If you're going to do volunteer work, cultivate that spirit of volunteerism. If you're going to do research work, develop that passion for science. Even for academia, if you want an A in that subject, get interested in it first.

I tell you, with the quality and interest intrinsic in you, things will be so much easier. And you won't be accused of lying to your future employer. =)

-wilbuR