Page 6 - KCN 2020

The day after the first day of 2020 was the last time that I stepped into school for the first
Last time of the year. You’d think that becoming Senior Three — the most senior among seniors,
the biggest little fishy in the pond — would attach some special significance to that day, but it didn’t.

First rus induced MCO. My mind is, at most, a primitive hare snare, and I remember next to nothing about
I don’t like writing stories. I’m not good at it. I’m also writing this some days into the coronavi-

the first day of school. Ergo, I am unable to write a narrative of that day. This is my excuse to the editors.
Day of School I mentioned above that my last first day of school held no significance. I was not

entirely honest; the day itself was middle of the road as far as days go, but the meaning that it car-
ried was extremely significant — my days as a high school student would be ending soon. Far too soon.

Robert Boxwell Now then, I’d decided, I’d have to make good out of my last year in Kuen Cheng. Starting from
that first day, I drew up a vague outline of my plan for the year: have fun with my friends, have fun
in the band; carry on, raise hell, and in general, have a good time. My plan was brilliant: nice
and adaptable, not bound by many practical conventions, and with plenty of wriggle room.

“The best laid schemes of mice and men go often awry,” said a dead Scottish Robert.
Unfortunately, so did my infallible scheme. The coronavirus made all our plans go awry: school got
called off, dates got cancelled, events got postponed… and all this was beyond our control. No number
of motivational posters or cries of “Go China!” could salvage the titanic shipwreck that occurred.

It would be tempting now to start crying and moping, bemoaning the dark times
which befell you, cursing the cruelty of the fates and destiny and whatnot, but doing that is, in
the long run, useless. The world around you continues to be terrible, and now you feel terrible too.

Instead, think back on how you felt on the first day of school. No matter how much
apathy, or even antipathy you felt towards returning to school, you had a goal for your-
self. Maybe it was an aspiration as lofty as to get a hundred marks on every exam, maybe it
was just to enjoy life. No matter the case, there was something that you wanted to do then.

And why should that change?

Let me make this clear: I’m not writing a motivational article. I won’t be telling you “you can
do it!” or “all your dreams will come true!” because that would be lying. You can’t always get what you
want. Besides, by the time this gets printed, the worst of the pandemic will have passed us by.

Bad things happen to us all the time, and we should make them stop happening to us.
Unfortunately, that’s not always possible. If a piano is a second away from falling on you, there isn’t
much you can do; and if the piano has already completed its little freefall, there is nothing you can
do to change that. Face it: sometimes you’re just screwed. This isn’t defeatism — it’s just the truth.

When this sort of thing happens, the best you can do is to go with the flow. Accept that what’s
happened has happened, then work on how to carry on. If the world’s hell bent on destroy-
ing your plans, well, it’s time to make a new one. Not a very powerful message, but so it goes.

In the long run, you will be fine. Most of you have many more first days of school ahead of
you. With luck, your hopes for those years will be better placed than the ones you had for this year.
And even when your last first day comes and goes, you’ll have plenty more regular days ahead of you.
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