Reflection on Term 1

Term 1 has been quite an enjoyable term for me, though. After more than a month of holiday, school seems quite difficult to adapt for the first two weeks. School work starts rolling in again, projects, performances, assignments. It really took me quite some time to get fully geared up for school life in Hwa Chong. Now, everything is ok for me, at least for now. The only difference from last was only a much heavier workload. The holidays are approaching, I really deserve a good rest for myself and I will get ready for Tern 2 by then.

A TOUCHING STORY A BOY WHO NEVER HAD A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP (FICTITIOUS)

There was this particular guy in my class, a little fat though, but quite a good person. It took me two whole years to get to know of his terrible plight. Despite his happy-go-lucky in everybody's mind, he never had a good night's sleep. This demonstrates why he never had his parent fetch him home, not even once. Whenever we had activities till 10 pm into the night, he would then go home by himself. Once, he sprained his leg and still had to go home himself. Everyone asked him what happened, he would only then reply with a smile and say,"It's alright."
Only a week ago, I found out that his parents are both gambling addicts, his father being the worse one. He always received phone calls at 2am in the morning, calling him to pick his drunk father at a pub. He would then appear in school worn out. He still had to hide everything from us and smile. I really pity his plight.

HE NEVER HAD A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP!

What I learnt about 'Prejudice'(Personal Response-The curriculum post is in the older posts)

Prejudice is not a good thing at all. This little biased mindset in one's mind... Why do man have to have such a view against particualr people? I still cannot understand why such a dirty, ugly little thing is in the world. Many discriminations are taking place in every second of our lives, or even now, when you are reading this. White and blacks, smart and stupid, tall and short, muscular and fat... This list cannot be commpleted. We should, instead, learn to accept others, and not try to make him feel bad about himself. Everyone is here in the world for a purpose, and we should never try to go against those, who are here for a purpose. If not, the only one living without a purpose, will be you.

Poem: Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose

Mrs. Dubose was plain hell.

She was two doors up the street from us,
Jem would either avoid Mrs. Dubose or
Walk the street with Atticus as
Dubose was unanimously the meanest woman who ever lived.

She was very old, spending most of the day in
Bed or a wheelchair. Rumours said that
She had a concealed CSA Pistol under covers.

Jem and I hated her. We would be raked by her
Wrathful gaze, subject to ruthless interrogation regarding
Our behaviour. We could do nothing to please her.

Jem concluded it was cowardly to
Stop at Miss Rachel’s front steps and wait.
Atticus would say
“Good evening, Mrs. Dubose! You look like a
Picture this evening.”
I never heard Atticus say a picture of what.

“Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the courthouse
Lawing for niggers!” Jem stiffened. He cut the tops of every
Camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned and bent
My baton against his knee.

The result was a talk with Mrs. Dubose and she wanted Jem to
Read to him. So, Jem was in the house, and read Ivanhoe to Mrs. Dubose.
After a while, Mrs Dubose lay on her back with cords of saliva
Collecting on her lips.

The alarm clock went off and
We went home.

That routine happened every day until
Jem said he regretted tearing up her camellias.

We had not seen Mrs. Dubose for
A month already. Atticus had come back one night and said
“She’s dead.”
Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict.

She had died conscious and cantankerous.
She had disapproved of my doings.
She had given Jem her Snow-on-the-Mountain which
She treasured very much.

Mrs. Dubose had won.

Joel Lye 2i2(12)
Seah Shao Xuan 2i2(15)

COMPROMISE

The definition of the word 'compromise' is a settlement of differences by mutual concessions; an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing claims, principles, etc., by reciprocal modification of demands. There are many situations in life where we can compromise with each other. For example, for a particular project that one has in school, the distribution of workload may spark of a heated argument in the project group. In serious cases, the entire group may even split up. I believe that this is also the case for some groups in our school. Why not compromise? In such situations, I think that this group should cool down then try to work things out slowly. Try to put yourself in the shoes of the one which said that he could not cope with such a large workload, then try to assign something lighter to him. If his reason is an invalid one, just try to compromise. No group wants to split up unhappily in the progress of their project which they long pains to think of and to gain approval to continue and the amount of time taken to proceed with the project. It would definitely be a waste of time and effort. So, I think that compromising is a very essential in any group of people working together for a project or even in work. The word 'compromise' and the action of doing it is very important.