The State Elections

Exams are on, can't post (but anyway, hi grace!)

Oh, and Kenny's father won!!!!! DAP woooots!

I'll write more about this on a later date. For now, enjoy pictures of St Thom being used during the election here.

Stupidity and Fear

A fight happened today. I feel angry.

There. That's my feelings. Kenny doesn't allow me to say anything in detail - but for the record let's say i'm pissed off at the way some people reacted. Kenny thought of my safety, bless him. The others were dumb and only thought of their safety. None of the Taekwondo prefects there did anything - one black belter was too far away and didn't know what was going on until too late. Not his fault, really, although i could do with his help. And here i was, low level Judoka, flipping through makikomi throws (self defense throws to be used against bigger opponents, usually with the aim of maiming or killing) in my head, when nobody helped me or defended the poor prefect that was being attacked.

What was worse was that nobody wanted to tell Ms Chong. I was going from prefect to prefect to prefect, trying to convince them, and they all said that - heck - they said many things, all stupid. They did not know how to react! And what was worse was that i didn't go - they told me it was not my right; better for the KPs to do so, for they were the 'leaders'. I am sure they would defend themselves, telling me that they have handled this before (have they expelled a student from school before as Paul and Kenny and i had done in form 2? I wonder). They were off saying that by hook or by crook they will get Jerome out of school.

Stupid.

St Thomas has a very harsh, very brutal way of dealing with these cases. This is the problem when the people with power do not know how the system works. The Thomian culture has always been - you fight me, fine. But tomorrow you will have to face Ms Chong, kicked out of school, transferred to another school way out of the city, and also deal with either your parents, or if your parents can't control you, then the police.

And here is this person telling me that he has handled cases such as this before, that he was afraid for the victim - ' ... what if he is attacked outside? Easy for you to say, call police and whatever, but how about his friends outside the prison. Won't they attack too?'

Hah. Theologically they can talk big. But in real life it works. St Thom was once worse than Kch High. Then we had a policy that if you fight, we fight harder. You'll be out of the school faster than a speeding bullet. How would this people know? They weren't Thomians. No wonder Kch High and whatever other schools sucked! They just hushed it up when a fight occured.

Hush it up! How clever! How selfish of them to think of themselves and their safety. HELLO! WE'RE IN ST THOMAS! BEST DISCIPLINE EVER! HOW WE WORK IS QUITE DIFFERENT FROM YOU OTHER SCHOOLS!

In the end I managed to convince a KP to report it. If i had gone, they would have looked at me as if i was some bighead, ignoring orders from my 'leaders'. I should have though. I hate myself for that. Anyway, she went, and even then the others chastised her for doing it, because they were scared.

But let's be fair. Some of these high ranking prefects came from schools with lousy discipline systems. That's why prior experience told them to hush it up. My prior experience was i may go down, but i'll go down fighting. Back in primary school, when i was bullied, i made the person pay by bringing parents into the picture. And the teachers and the headmaster. And they paid, alright. Strangely most of these gangsters are now my friends. Teehee.

Next, some of the 'leaders' came from all-girl schools. They never had such experience before. Perhaps they schould come over to Chung Hua No 1 sometime. It'll be a hair raising experience, i tell you. But you can't blame them, at any rate. They reacted remarkbly well, looking back on it.

And most importantly, they were all wanting to conform. I am guilty of this sin too. Next time, in order to do what i know is right, i'll have to stand up and not give a damn about what people think of me. They will hate me, but then all people who have done right things have been hated. Annan was hated. Gandhi was hated. Donald Trump, in his quest for helping New York rebuild Wollman's rink, was hated.

People love you when you're normal. And they'll hate you when you either do something right or something big. They'll hate you when you when you do not follow the crowd, and if you succeed.

I believe there is a big lesson here. Stand up for what you know is right. And ignore what others think of you. It'll take great moral fiber, and it'll take great courage, but if you don't you'll never know what you can acheive.