Jul 19, 2010

Post-Investiture

I was on Facebook just now and happened to take note of Yao De's status: "Invest your time in what's eternal and not what's temporary." And I thought, how true. How true. What do we hope to achieve by being in something like the Students' Council? If it's for our portfolio or for the glory or the prestige of being in it or even wanting to be the best Council ever so that we'll be remembered for our great contributions, I'm pretty sure we'll all burn out really soon. Because that's not what Council's about.

Council isn't about competition or what we gain out of it personally. To me, it isn't even about leaving a legacy as the 35ths. We want each batch of Councillors to outdo the previous batch because we want the best for the school. I genuinely want to do as much as I can for the school to help the students make their ACJC experience a fantastic one. I want ACJC to be able to change people's lives. That is eternal. And, of course, I ultimately want to give everything back to the One who gave so much to me. I want to change people's lives in ACJC, whether they find Him or find love or find true friendship and school spirit here.

If we keep working for ourselves - to build up our portfolio and all - things start to seem really pointless eventually. I've thought about it. I've got quite a lot of things going for me - awesome CCAs, relatively good O level results, a small scholarship (that doesn't grant me much but maybe it'll get me somewhere) - and all this, what for? For a good record? To heighten my chances of getting a scholarship for a university overseas, maybe, but what for? To work in print journalism and slog my guts out for an unsatisfactory pay? Or to become an English teacher and have to deal with uncooperative students and authorities' rigidness? When I think about this, if everything I've been doing so far had been for the wrong reasons - for personal gain - I'd have lost meaning in everything a long time ago.

But it's not about all that. I want to give back as much as I've been blessed with. Each skill or lesson I've learnt, or each experience I've gained, has a much greater purpose. It's not about myself, not about leaving a personal legacy. I want to change people's lives. I want someone's life to have been changed for the better, to be able to heal and spread love - and spread the word of the greatest Love of all, that which comes from the perfect One.

That's eternal.

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