Forgetting the past
As school reopens for the first time
in the new year, I try to look at it as something new, a way to start over again. Much to my disappointment, it isn't really so.
Much of the social drama I see in school return, and I caught in the middle again. Much as I try to ignore it, people appear, supplying me with rumours that I really couldn't care less about, or those that I really wish were not true, for the sake of the entity of which we were talking about. People come to me with social problems or peculiar behaviours of which they want to fix. Strangely enough these people are unable to comprehend the fact that in the end, it is just the individual that has to stop the problem on her own and that someone cannot guide that individual through that process. Some say "I can't stop it" or "I really try", much to my annoyance. Typical Catholic teaching dictates that "God only helps those who help themselves" and I'm sure that applies to many different religions as well. How would you expect an imperfect individual like me to help with a problem that I am unable to relate to if some don't even assist themselves? However as I have done many times before, I digress.
I soon realised that even though people view the New Year of a way to change themselves, it's really not. People perceive you in the same way that you were before and based on your past actions which you have done in the previous year and teachers assess your level of fluency in the core subjects based on the grades on which you received the year before. Rather, New Year's Day is a day that people use as an excuse to change; as an excuse to change their behaviour, which is not really so. Human behaviour is hard to change, ironically enough it is already behaviour for us to want to change, thus the days similar to New Year's Day in that aspect. Chinese New Year, New Year's Day, Christmas... Etc (I really can't think of any outside of which I do celebrate)
So once again, something that looks to be good is broken down to be something futile. Or is it? Can we really change in the end? How many years would it take for a bad habit to become a good one? The behaviour if people is already designed (partly) in our genes. Can we fight genetics?
Fruit for thought,
Matthew Tan
in the new year, I try to look at it as something new, a way to start over again. Much to my disappointment, it isn't really so.
Much of the social drama I see in school return, and I caught in the middle again. Much as I try to ignore it, people appear, supplying me with rumours that I really couldn't care less about, or those that I really wish were not true, for the sake of the entity of which we were talking about. People come to me with social problems or peculiar behaviours of which they want to fix. Strangely enough these people are unable to comprehend the fact that in the end, it is just the individual that has to stop the problem on her own and that someone cannot guide that individual through that process. Some say "I can't stop it" or "I really try", much to my annoyance. Typical Catholic teaching dictates that "God only helps those who help themselves" and I'm sure that applies to many different religions as well. How would you expect an imperfect individual like me to help with a problem that I am unable to relate to if some don't even assist themselves? However as I have done many times before, I digress.
I soon realised that even though people view the New Year of a way to change themselves, it's really not. People perceive you in the same way that you were before and based on your past actions which you have done in the previous year and teachers assess your level of fluency in the core subjects based on the grades on which you received the year before. Rather, New Year's Day is a day that people use as an excuse to change; as an excuse to change their behaviour, which is not really so. Human behaviour is hard to change, ironically enough it is already behaviour for us to want to change, thus the days similar to New Year's Day in that aspect. Chinese New Year, New Year's Day, Christmas... Etc (I really can't think of any outside of which I do celebrate)
So once again, something that looks to be good is broken down to be something futile. Or is it? Can we really change in the end? How many years would it take for a bad habit to become a good one? The behaviour if people is already designed (partly) in our genes. Can we fight genetics?
Fruit for thought,
Matthew Tan
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