My New Aim
By Paul Chong
Throughout this trip, I had been to a lot of place, met and talked to a lot of great peoples, seen things that most people normally do not see. We discussed about the definition of success, proper education system, and social justice. I have learnt more about life during this trip than my previous 18 and a half years. The trip had certainly proved to be worthwhile and thought provoking.
One of the teachers told us that everyone of us has a hidden potential. Those yet to show their potential does not mean they don't have it. Proper education helps us find our true potential, and guides us to use it wisely. Use it for the good of our society. I agreed with him. God made us to be great, not to be losers. Even before we were born, we had already beaten more than 500 million rivals. We were champions even before our birth. And we will definitely be champions before we die. Do not underestimate those who are weak at present. One day, when they find their true potential. They might even get stronger than us.
Winning and losing were always a popular subject in our discussions. During these conversations, I found out that winning should not always be our main objective. Learning should always be our main purpose. Learn to lose before you start to win. Like what people say, you learn from mistakes, you learn from failure. Compared to losing, winning, actually, does not have much value. When we win, we do not learn, we let pride take over, we tend to rest on our laurels, we do not feel the need to improve. Once we get used to winning, we forget where we came from, we became afraid to lose. Losing, on the other hand, is different. It teaches us to learn from our mistakes, we are taught to be modest, we are also taught respect others, acknowledge other people’s abilities. Through losing, we gain new strength.
Trying is also one of the building blocks to success, it's the first step. When we try, we have the chance prove ourselves, to show our potential. We show what we have learnt. Do not be afraid, because every cloud has a silver lining. Opposite every failure is success. It is up to us whether we want to make our failure a success.
Thomas Edison, a famous inventor, believed in that philosophy. He failed more than 900 times when he create our light bulb. When asked about his failures, he said that those supposedly “failures” were not real failures. Instead he declared that he had successfully proven which material was not suitable for making a light bulb. There is no such thing as “once a failure, always a failure”, everything is in our mind, it depends on our angle of viewing. We can choose to view from a positive angle or we can choose to look from a negative side.
With the people we met and the society levels we had been through during our trip, it was not hard for us to understand that there is more to life than money and achievements. We went pass a lot of rural areas, a lot of underdeveloped area. There were no skyscrapers, no beautiful Mercedez Benz.
The people led a simple life , they knew what was important to them, they carry out their responsibility as best as possible. Some of the communities there even took education more serious than those of urban community. They were willing donate to build big and beautiful schools for the future generation. When I saw children there running barefoot and playing around in kampong areas, I felt sad. They were having great fun. I felt sad for those who were deprived of this kind of childhood. I felt sad because the childhood nowadays are spent in front of TV and playing video and computer games. Even though these people were not living a luxurious life, at the very least, they were thankful to be able to self sustain, they were glad to provide children with good education, and they were happy.
The most important thing in life is happiness, health and love. We met a Belgian couple during our trip to Taman Negara national park. They were backpackers on a world tour. Their plan was to travel round the world in one year. I had a shock of my life when I heard them say they were already into the 8th month of their travel. I expected a more exhausted face. They spent the previous night in a cave, and they showed no sign of fatigue at all. In fact, they were in even greater spirits than us. They were happy. Yes, happiness is what most people are looking forward to, but only a handful will be able to achieve real happiness. Laughter can be bought using money, joy and happiness cannot.
From then on I changed my philosophy, I had generated a new aim for myself. Before this trip, I have always dreamt of being a great scientist. I had always wanted to win the Nobel Prize. But now, I finally understood that winning Nobel Prize isn’t everything, the most important is that my discovery may reach every human being in this world. And consequently, change their life.
This trip had taught me many invaluable lessons. For my new aim, I hope to travel around the world. I want to reach out to those who are poverty stricken, those who in danger of dying of starvation. Especially those of 3rd world country. From there I will learn to know a little about the life being an underprivileged human. I want to understand their worries, their condition and get to know their suffering. I want to use my knowledge of science to help them to have a better life, help them to live a humane life. From now on Nobel Prize will only be secondary. Whereas, servicing underprivileged people in this world is my top priority.
我崇敬的人物
陈秀兰 撰写
旅程一路走来见过了诸多前辈，最让我印象深刻的是赖兴祥校长。赖校长为人和蔼可亲，感觉就像是个没脾气的前辈，更不会摆架子，待人不但热情款待，还贴心备至。对我这个失去父爱的女孩来说，他就像是个仁慈的父亲总是包容、谅解子女的错处，是个开明的父亲。这样的一个校长，总是得到学生的尊敬与爱戴，学生口里说出来的“校长好！”，不是因畏惧校长而说的，反而是敬爱校长而发自内心的问候。
杨敦祥老师是个让我既崇拜又敬重的一位前辈，在他身上难免可以看到庄意添老师的影子，他们的共同之处就是都在理工大学念工程系，更是校内的活跃分子。他曾说“只要自己觉得对的事，就要执着的去完成。”。他是个非常执着的人，从他的言谈举止看来，对于他自己决定要做的事，不管过程有多么的艰辛，他绝对会义不容辞的去完成。我个人非常欣赏他坚定的信心，以及坚持不懈的精神。我们往往在进行一件事情时，只要途中遇到挫折，难免会产生负面的情绪，而动摇了完成目标的心态。而在他身上我学到了对于自己想做的事，就该固执的去完成它。
旅途中唯一拜访的女校长——林敏萍校长，由于是旅程的最后一站，有种特别期待想快点见到她的感觉。在我想象中，想必她是个坚强且很有威严的校长。第一次见面时，心底有些畏惧的情绪，但在与她握手的那刻，我才发现我错了，她并没有我想象中那么严肃，相反的非常随和而且有种豪迈的气息。原来她是体育老师，难怪比起其他校长，她显得格外活跃，因为她有非一般的运动细胞。更让我震惊的是她可是爬过不少高山哦！让我顿时羡慕她的体力，更欣赏她的意志力与勇气。因为要爬国内数一数二的高山，可不是件容易的事，可要有一定的体力与技巧，而且也有一定的危险性。
脑海里浮现一个人的身影，让我过目不忘、崇敬万分的孙秀燕老师。她最让我崇拜的地方，她的独立性很强，能够独自一人长途旅行，尤其还是去到印度纷乱的社会环境，西藏高山上随时面临缺氧的危机等地方。听她叙述得风轻云淡的，似乎就像在描述着别人的经历、故事 ，在她平静的情绪中，我从她眼中看到了他对生命的热情，那种感觉是无法用三言两语来形容的。我从来不曾想像旅行可以给我带来任何变化，更别说是成长，是她告诉我，原来旅行也可以这么美好，甚至能够启发我对生命的激情。
每一个人物都有其让我欣赏及敬佩万分的过去，即使我无法一一详尽的描述出来，但是你们的精神，启发了一个在人海茫茫中，毫无目标的青年，让我找到了，我要走的路，也许我现在所想的并不是最终的答案，但是凭着答案的预设，我会更勇敢地去寻找最终的答案。谢谢您，给与我方向，给与我正确的楷模，让我未来的路更好走。永远记得，曾经有这么一群人，让我知道要为生命发光发亮、不枉此生。My Favourite School
By Paul Chong
During our trip round peninsular Malaysia, we visited 10 independent schools of different states. I found out that independent school in different states are different, and unique in their own way. I have done an analyst of my own of the independent schools of peninsular Malaysia. I came from Phor Tay Private high school, which is of the northern region.
Chinese independent schools in the northern region like Kedah, Penang and Perak are often persecuted by both the government and the majority of public. Here, we have what we like to call controlled schools. Those schools are the supposedly good school that excel in both academic and extra-curricular activities. Private independent schools are always being thought of as a school for dropouts. Only a handful of people from the Chinese community supports our existence. The scale of independent schools here is very small when compared to other regions of Malaysia. The public tend to shun us and view us as someone who would beat up anybody in the back alley.
The middle part of Malaysia, Selangor, Seremban and Melaka, however is quite different. Independent schools in this region are thought of as good schools that rivaled even the government elites. They have the support from surrounding community. The characteristics of schools in this part of Malaysia is the height of their school building. I had learned, from this trip, that the tallest building reached 15 storey. And the lowest being no less than 5. This occurrence is because the spaces are limited. They had no choice but to build in the direction of the sky. Moreover, most schools here doesn't have a full size football field.
In the southern region, Johor, everything is quite different in a positive way. The Chinese independent schools here are adored and greatly supported by the public. They are the best schools in the state. Every year, parents try their best to place their children into one of these schools. If I am not mistaken, one of them has more than 4000 students. They are considered school of elites. Besides being big on the number of students, they do not face the problems that their northern counterparts face. Most schools down here have a vast school compound. They have plenty of spaces for fields, basketball courts, sports complex and so on.
Pei Feng high school, the school which I was in contact the most is my favourite. Though the school compound is not that big, they made up to everything by trying as best as possible to cram everything in. They have a mini sized track(200m), at least 3 basketball courts, a huge hall with 6 badminton courts, and a big library. They had also gone high tech. Everything was done electronically, the attendance, borrowing books and buying food and drinks in canteen.
While we were there, they were preparing for their 97th school anniversary. When I saw them decorating their class, I was in a state of envy. They do not just simply decorate their class, they changed their classroom into their theme. Everything was in 3D. For example, they make the exterior of the classroom in the shape of a Disneyland castle. It was definitely a huge project, as it involved nailing wooden structures, then laying layers upon layers of papers to form the desired shape. Compared to our Chinese New Year’s decorating competition, ours were like drinking water. When I entered one of their classrooms, I was stunned for at least 10 seconds. The way inside the classroom was built like a tunnel, and the walls inside was filled with figures that are bulging out. The way they worked together to make this project a success made me feel that my schooling life was so insignificant. It made me feel like I had missed out a big part of schooling life. All those fun that I could have had if I worked like them together with my classmates.
Besides decorating their classrooms for games, they have an evening show. I had to privilege to view one of their audition cum rehearsal sessions. They went all out to do their best and be chosen. Those that were not chosen will be dejected and disappointed. Unlike me, I did everything I could to be eliminated. Even if I get chosen, I find reasons to back out, and try to spare myself from embarrassment. That moment, I knew I was wrong. I had the wrong mentality all this while. Instead of embarrassment, I should have thought of it as a chance for people to know me, to recognize my talents, to make them praise me. But now it is all too late, high school life had passed. What I can hope now, is my university life will be much better and enjoyable. That I can schooling life filled with joy, excitement, and of course, surprise.
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