AMKSS RCY | Yi Lin | Mendi | Vivian | Winny
This Wednesday, the JC1s had the first Principal's talk. I do feel motivated by Ms Lai, after hearing all her stories. (Some seniors think she's propaganda-ish though; but I really like her).
Every Thursday we have this thing called the Chrystal Lesson (takes up 1 period). It's a motivational programme set up by the school. These few weeks have been on Personal Vision - the importance of setting compelling goals. I came to realise that my school really values goal-setting a lot. Of course, it is important. Today we had a youth motivator to talk to us.
He mentioned about a case study on the processionary caterpillar....
The noted French naturalist, Jean Henri Fabre`, studied this unique little furry insect in great detail. What makes this caterpillar special is its instinct to follow in lock step the caterpillar in front of it. This behavior, not only gives the caterpillar its name, but a deadly characteristic also.
Fabre` demonstrated this unusual behavior with a simple experiment. He took a flowerpot and placed a number of caterpillars in single-file around the circumference of the pot’s rim. Each caterpillar's head touched the caterpillar in front of it.Fabre` then placed the caterpillars' favorite food in the middle of the circle created by the caterpillars’ procession around the rim of the flowerpot. Each caterpillar followed the one ahead thinking that it was heading for the food.
Round and round went those silly insects--for seven days! After a week of this mindless activity, the caterpillars started to drop dead because of exhaustion and starvation. All that they had to do to avoid death was to stop the senseless circling of the flower pot and head directly toward the food—less than six inches away from those ever-circling crawlers. However, the processionary caterpillars were locked into this lifestyle and couldn’t extricate themselves from this mindless behavior.
Human beings are different from caterpillars. We alone have the ability to change our direction in life. Or do we? We often confuse motion with meaning and activity with achievement. We can all too readily get into ruts, which cause us to dysfunction at work, school, or home. The ruts can become vicious circles, which don’t get us any further than the processionary caterpillar gets on the flowerpot. Then we find ourselves resembling the processionary caterpillar more than we would first think or want.
Source:http://www.wolverton-mountain.com/articles/caterpillars.htm
Yeah, so having a dream is important. But what do you really want in life? Sometimes we don't really know what we want, and just like the caterpillars, we often go around in circles thinking that we are on the right track because we have a dream (even if it isn't realistic). Setting a compelling vision is important. Like wanting to make a big difference to the society; helping the needy folks - with a bigger goal in life, we can set intermediate goals to compel ourselves towards our destination.
Having a direction doesn't mean having a destination. Just like us being in a JC or a Poly. We probably think that we'll lead a better life in terms of affluence, and money because with a good education background, we'll get a good job; but such goals aren't really compelling enough. (Well unless we are really desperate for money). We see studying as a direction to earning big bucks.
At the end of the day, will we really achieve what we want? Answer is maybe. That is if we work towards our goal - a specific and powerful goal. We have to craft it out. We need it to drive us forth.
I'm in a JC. My ultimate aim is to clinch all those As in my A Level. Sometimes I get really afraid that I will slacken when exams are near, but this always ring in my head (partly because the teachers in MJC often stress on it): If I want to get into a JC in the first place, I'd better work hard to make sure I get into University.
You see, if you don't work hard enough to get into Uni, it's as good as you wasting 2 years of your life away only to get enrolled into a Polytechnic (another 3 years to your education), or probably drop out of school to get into the workforce - with only your ugly A Level results. (Hahaha sorry I sound so harsh I think? But this is in the form of self-talk).
Hmmm for the Poly people who just started school, WORK HARD. For those in JC, WORK EVEN HARDER. WE CAN DO THIS - TOGETHER! Once the hard life is over, the remaining journey will be a breeze.
Apologies for being so long-winded! Got to study for my Econs test now. See you all tomorrow! :) EXCITED!
Labels: Mendi