I am seriously too narrow minded.
For all those so-called “thoughtful” years of my life, what I could think of is my own future living conditions, about the materialistic enjoyament and how to earn a decent income.
Yet I know that things will be different. These great people I meet here in ISSYP are going to change my life.
I would like to just talk about two guys who impressed me today. Giovanni has started earning money since ten years old. He moved out from his house last year and is now living on his own. He works during school days and all the summer vocations to pay his schools fees, his apartment rental fee, his clothes, his camera, and well, basically, everything. There are five children in his family and three of them are independent.
I was really shocked when I heard this. I felt so ashamed of myself. Well, I earned money before, but that is way too little to support myself. Apart from not contributing to my family financially, I am adding weight to my parents’ burden. I asked them for money to live in Singapore, to shop, to travel, to buy unnecessary things.
Giovanni has every right to spend his money at will because he earns every single cent of it. But I do not have the right to demand a higher life standard because I am still dependent on my parents and they are not my servents. They need not even to give me any money because I am already eighteen years old. I am supposed be independent and earn my own living. Goodness. What have I done to my dear parents? I shall really reflect on this seriously.
Leo is a guy who impressed me with his ideas profoundly. I have never thought about our learning process so holistically. He migrated from Taiwan to Canada, Vancouver when he was in Grade 6. At a first glance, I would think he is a superficial person who only cares about the looks and making fun of others. Yet I was totally wrong. From his behaviours in lessons, I could tell that he is super intelligent. Maybe genius would be a more appropriate word. He asks good questions every lesson. He has endlessly interesting anecdotes to tell. He does not bring any writing materials to class because he says that he could not listen when he writes. Talking about Physics, he says that this subject is just elegant. Any object has mass, energy, momentum, etc. Physics is about to find the interrelationship between these properties of any object so as to derive a common law that governs the universe. It is essentially the understanding the reality, the truth. He even views it as another form of art, just like music, drawing, etc. They are all pointing to the same thing. The common question out of human nature, what is the truth of life?
When I asked him how he studies? He said, he thinks. He will try to find out the reason of why we are studying all the concepts and thus deduce the real intention of all the scientists in the field. He uses his brain a lot. I guess that’s why he is so smart and efficient.
I see the beauty of knowledge. It’s certainly not about money, achievement or honours. It is just simply about answering the questions rising from our hearts.
For all those so-called “thoughtful” years of my life, what I could think of is my own future living conditions, about the materialistic enjoyament and how to earn a decent income.
Yet I know that things will be different. These great people I meet here in ISSYP are going to change my life.
I would like to just talk about two guys who impressed me today. Giovanni has started earning money since ten years old. He moved out from his house last year and is now living on his own. He works during school days and all the summer vocations to pay his schools fees, his apartment rental fee, his clothes, his camera, and well, basically, everything. There are five children in his family and three of them are independent.
I was really shocked when I heard this. I felt so ashamed of myself. Well, I earned money before, but that is way too little to support myself. Apart from not contributing to my family financially, I am adding weight to my parents’ burden. I asked them for money to live in Singapore, to shop, to travel, to buy unnecessary things.
Giovanni has every right to spend his money at will because he earns every single cent of it. But I do not have the right to demand a higher life standard because I am still dependent on my parents and they are not my servents. They need not even to give me any money because I am already eighteen years old. I am supposed be independent and earn my own living. Goodness. What have I done to my dear parents? I shall really reflect on this seriously.
Leo is a guy who impressed me with his ideas profoundly. I have never thought about our learning process so holistically. He migrated from Taiwan to Canada, Vancouver when he was in Grade 6. At a first glance, I would think he is a superficial person who only cares about the looks and making fun of others. Yet I was totally wrong. From his behaviours in lessons, I could tell that he is super intelligent. Maybe genius would be a more appropriate word. He asks good questions every lesson. He has endlessly interesting anecdotes to tell. He does not bring any writing materials to class because he says that he could not listen when he writes. Talking about Physics, he says that this subject is just elegant. Any object has mass, energy, momentum, etc. Physics is about to find the interrelationship between these properties of any object so as to derive a common law that governs the universe. It is essentially the understanding the reality, the truth. He even views it as another form of art, just like music, drawing, etc. They are all pointing to the same thing. The common question out of human nature, what is the truth of life?
When I asked him how he studies? He said, he thinks. He will try to find out the reason of why we are studying all the concepts and thus deduce the real intention of all the scientists in the field. He uses his brain a lot. I guess that’s why he is so smart and efficient.
I see the beauty of knowledge. It’s certainly not about money, achievement or honours. It is just simply about answering the questions rising from our hearts.
