Monday, October 02, 2006

A very nice lawyer who has recently left the firm told me once over the lunch table that if she were to be given a chance to return to her childhood times, she wouldn’t study so hard as she had. She would still fulfill her duties as a student but not at the expense of sacrificing her play time. She would enjoy her childhood to the fullest because you won’t find childhood once it has ended.

Sigh. Why didn’t anyone tell me this earlier? Why didn’t I realize it when I was still a child.

I recalled a few lies the adults used to tell me when I refused to be obedient, be it in studies or behavior:-

- “If you don’t study hard, you will become a road sweeper or worst, a shit collector when you grow up.”

- “I will sell you to the rag-and-bone man”

- “Zhen Ye’s car is waiting downstairs. You choice: the school bus or Zhen Ye’s car.”
(PS: Zhen Ye was a villain in a Chinese drama series which I watched when I was attending kindergarten. The character scared me to bits to the fact that as a child, I actually believed in the existence of Zhen Ye.)

- “I will return you your Power Rangers pens if you do well for the finals.”
(PS: A lie told by my tuition teacher when I was in Primary 2. During that time, Power Rangers are my idol and my mom bought me a set of their pens, with their miniatures as the caps. I brought those pens to school as why the hell couldn’t I? They weren’t even toys in the first place – they are stationeries. My tuition teacher confiscated it and promised to return them on the condition that I must do well for the exams. In the midst of the examinations period, those pens were given to her nephews and nieces as ‘toys’ and when I saw them having fun with my “Power Rangers’, believe me, my heart just cracked That was the last time I saw these “Power Rangers”. Eventually, I did well for the exams. The promise was forgotten by its creator, but I can still remember.)

If only I knew it, I won’t have studied so hard during my childhood but well, in reality I didn’t study damn hard like I would die without books for a day.

To adults, don’t tell your kids to study hard. What is your definition of hard on a scale of 1 to 10?

Kids, you don’t ace by studying the hard way, but by the smart way.

... seen through it and moved on.