Reported by:
Sr2ComB Ho Chia Chien
Photography by:
Kuen Cheng Photography Club
On 24 June 2024, the weekly assembly continued at the school hall. This session Senior Middle 2 and 3 students were present. As soon as everyone was settled, students from the Choir Club took over the stage, leading the audience in singing national and school anthems. Student leaders continued with a recitation of the Student Ethics.
(Photo 1: Prefects leading students to recite the Student Ethics)
Up next, Principal Madam Chua Lee Lee was invited to give her speech. At this particular time, Madam Chua shared her views on Kazuo Inamori’s book ‘Living Law.’ The book explains five types of hardships in life. First is learning hardship, which can be felt as isolating oneself due to lonely studying. The second is the mental hardship of thinking independently. The third is self-discipline hardship, demanding patience and forbearance. Fourthly comes dignity hardship, meaning maintaining calmness even when dignity is challenged.
The fifth and last type is character hardship, which means enduring small troubles and staying firm until the end. Madam Chua then highlighted that the secret behind overcoming hardships entails keeping one’s eyes on a long-term goal. It mostly entails reducing unproductive social interactions and overconsumption while being misunderstood in loneliness. Ultimately it requires self-restraint, self-control, endurance and deep thinking.
(Photo 2: Madam Chua Lee Lee delivering her speech)
Next to come, Ms Lim Siew Lian, Head of the Discipline Department conducted a sharing session featuring four short stories about cultural identity. The first one was about Judy – an air hostess who was moved by the way Chinese actress Liu Shishi neatly folded her blanket after landing, a supportive behaviour, a cultured and refined act of a person. In the second anecdote, a Chinese man living near Sydney went fishing with his nephew in a boat, throwing back most of his catch as they did not meet the legal size limit. This clearly showed that self-discipline needn’t be enforced by an external body hence cultural refinement needs no reminders either.
The third story was about Linda, a Chinese American writer, who commented that although the United States was the freest country in the world, it was actually full of various restrictions. It shows, through her story, that true freedom makes its appearance through necessary constraints, portraying cultural refinement as freedom within boundaries. The last story was about a wise man who told his followers to handle the broken glasses carefully and tighten the empty bottles, all for the sake of safety and convenience for others. It symbolised that a culture of grace is the grace of consideration for others.
