I have finally concluded my grading of almost a hundred essays written by teenagers on the title "The Best Things in Life" for this year's Impac Young Writers Competition.
It was a daunting task and as always, I was the tough taskmaster. Sad to say, no one scored over a 75 from my pile and I am thinking - maybe I was way to harsh with my expectations way up there. Yet, try as I may, I could not find one that really warranted me going "THIS IS THE ONE!"
I asked my childhood friend - were we that clueless and inarticulate when we were at that age? And his reply came in one that surprised me ~ Maybe we were but age makes us think otherwise. Or perhaps, we're hoping that we were not.
Yes, perhaps I am hoping that I was not that naive back then to think that life would be all rosy and sunny as soon as I step out into my own.
Cos if I thought really hard, I would fully agree with these kids, where they are coming from ~ that the best things in life, at this particular station of life, would be: family, friends, tove (young love, old love, love spurned), the ability to dream and to have fun, good health (physical, spiritual and mental) and money. Oh and let's not forget chocolates, and my personal favourite ~ the colour pink!
One of my former bosses made it a point to constantly remind me that people are made up of different shapes, sizes, experiences, education levels and that I must take into account all these factors when I size someone up.
It was a daunting task and as always, I was the tough taskmaster. Sad to say, no one scored over a 75 from my pile and I am thinking - maybe I was way to harsh with my expectations way up there. Yet, try as I may, I could not find one that really warranted me going "THIS IS THE ONE!"
I asked my childhood friend - were we that clueless and inarticulate when we were at that age? And his reply came in one that surprised me ~ Maybe we were but age makes us think otherwise. Or perhaps, we're hoping that we were not.
Yes, perhaps I am hoping that I was not that naive back then to think that life would be all rosy and sunny as soon as I step out into my own.
Cos if I thought really hard, I would fully agree with these kids, where they are coming from ~ that the best things in life, at this particular station of life, would be: family, friends, tove (young love, old love, love spurned), the ability to dream and to have fun, good health (physical, spiritual and mental) and money. Oh and let's not forget chocolates, and my personal favourite ~ the colour pink!
One of my former bosses made it a point to constantly remind me that people are made up of different shapes, sizes, experiences, education levels and that I must take into account all these factors when I size someone up.
We can never judge the lives of others,
because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation.
It’s one thing to feel that you are on the right path,
but it’s another to think that yours is the only path.
because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation.
It’s one thing to feel that you are on the right path,
but it’s another to think that yours is the only path.
Paulo Coelho
I may have done more things and gone thru a whole lot more than any of these kids have, or ever will but that does not mean mine is the ONLY storyboard. And as most of them said in their essays: Who's to say what the "best" are, when each of us have different values and walked different paths?
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