Should we criticize people and or opinions they have?
Eek. That’s another tough one.
After much thinking (although it was only 10 minutes), I decided that the answer is both a yes and a no.
We should respect others peoples’ actions and opinions. You wouldn’t like someone coming up to you and slapping you just because they did not like the way you felt about something. However, if the thing that you did is wrong, you should accept the criticism and act differently in the future.
If you are the one who is criticizing another person, stop and think before you act. Is what the other person is doing that unacceptable and wrong that you have to tell that person off? Put yourself in that person’s shoes. Would you get angry if another person told you off for something that you did? Remember that you must put your perspective from the other person’s point of view, not your own. You would naturally say that it is right to criticize the other person as you are not the person that is being criticized.
You might not know it, but the person who is doing the thing that you think is wrong may have a good reason for doing it. For example, if you are in a car driving to a hospital to see your dying relative whom you are very close to and you are scolded by another driver for cutting into his way, what will you feel? If you are any normal person, you would most likely think that this person is being very unreasonable.
However, if you were the one who is criticizing the person who just cut into your way, you would probably feel that the person who cut into your way is being stubborn. This shows the different points of view that each driver has towards a certain situation. The driver who cut in would think that he should not be criticized as he was just trying to get to the hospital as fast as possible to be with your loved one during the person’s dying breath.
On the other hand, the driver whose way had been cut into would very likely think that they were right to criticize the other driver as they had wrongfully had their way cut into.
This brings us back to the main point. If we criticize people, it should be because we care for them, not because we want to upset them. When you criticize a friend, you might think that it is for that person’s own good. The friend might take it differently. The friend might think that you don’t want to be his friend and just want to upset him.
If you really care for the person, criticize him out of the good of your heart. Whether he chooses to accept the criticism, it is his own choice. If he gets angry over it, it shows that he is not really your friend as he does not accept criticism which is for his own good. As I have stated earlier in this post, whether we should criticize has both a yes and a no as an answer. After all, it is a philosophical question.
Time passes so fast.
The last time I looked at the calendar, it was at February (Seriously, I hardly check the calendar). Then four days ago, I decided to give the old date-keeper some long needed attention. At that moment, I felt shocked. I felt like I had been shot.
Half a year had passed.
Honestly, it felt like only a month had gone by. It was unbelievable. I never imagined that the saying ‘time flies when your having fun’ would ever apply to a normally boring thing like school. I guess it must be the camaraderie of our classmates. I think we are the most ‘together’ class in the entire secondary one of the school. I’m not kidding. Still don’t believe me? I can tell you how I managed to get through the school semester so easily.
I play soccer with my classmates almost everyday (the place where we play is a confidential secret). Never have I felt such joy when I play soccer with them. In my primary school, like I said in the previous post, if you couldn’t shoot, you would hardly ever get a chance to touch the ball. And if you made any mistakes, you would be yelled at.
When I play with my classmates, it’s alright to make mistakes. “Never mind, we will have other chances” has become a very common statement at matches. We hardly scream at each other unless the mistake is so pathetically stupid that the person who made that mistake ought to be shot.
Back to business. This year has been a big jump from last year. There are more subjects now so it’s more stressful. The amount of homework has also increased compared to primary school and the jump in the difficulty of what is taught is also great. There are many exams and these exams are almost every once in two weeks and this means there is less time for leisure because more of it is taken up studying.
Don’t worry though. I find some ‘homework’ rather relaxing. For example, this blog. I am able to express what I want to say without actually saying it which is quite good for me to de-stress.
My CCA is also quite fun. There is hardly any stress and you get to vent your anger on stuff like acrylic. In my CCA, you get to use power tools such as the jigsaw, the electric drill, the solder, etc.
Overall, I feel that this has been quite a nice first semester. So far, I have been able to cope with my homework. The journey will be long and arduous but I will strive to do the best I can. I still have much to adapt to but I will persevere and hopefully I will make it through the year.
When I first got my PSLE results slip last year, I was shocked. The three numbers that were to decide my fate were larger than I had thought they would be by over twenty. That was the start of my amazing journey. Too bad, my primary school friends said, you’ve already accepted the DSA into that school (I shall refrain from using the name of that school).
However, there was a way out of my predicament. So I said goodbye to my classmates and left. My father brought me to two secondary schools with the hopes of getting into one of them instead of the school that I had DSA’ed into. I had originally wanted to go to another school (I will not mention the name of that school or the school that I am in right now) but now I realize that being in the school I am in right now was actually a blessing in disguise.
When the mail came one afternoon in December, I was disappointed. I read the first three words on it and knew my hopes were crushed. ‘We are sorry’ were those words. I knew what would come next. I felt even worse after I found out that I had missed the cut-off point by 1 mark. 1 paltry mark. I couldn’t help feeling sorry for myself. If only I had answered that questioned correctly...
A few days later, I received another mail. This time it was from the other school that I had appealed to. Unlike the other letter, this one had a positive reply. “Oh well,” I said to myself. “At least I made it to the second school of my choice.” I felt sort of sad for only managing to get into that school.
When I went to that school to start my secondary school life I was surprised in a nice way. I had never experienced so much class spirit. This I found out when I started playing soccer with my new classmates in February. I never thought I would be able to make so many new friends so easily. I felt this… this strong feeling inside me. It only showed when I was with my classmates, playing soccer.
Their style of soccer was way different from the students who used to play soccer in my primary school. The intricate passing, the fantastic shooting, the great team-spirit; all of these were totally different. I had never experienced this before. What’s more, I was actually appreciated for my playing style. In my primary school, if you could not attack, you would never be able to touch the ball. None of the forwards on your team would ever pass the ball to a non-forward.
That meant that if you were better at defence, you would only be able to clear the ball if one of the opponents made a mistake. What’s more, when you cleared the ball and it went out, which it usually did, your team’s strikers would yell at you for being such a lousy passer. Talk about ironic. That’s why I hardly played soccer in primary school.
It’s a totally different story now that I am in secondary school. People like me who are better at defending are almost as appreciated as the attackers if you can do your job well. As the saying goes ’defence is the best offence’. If you can defend well throughout the whole game and just have one good shot at the goal, you will win. On the other hand, if you just keep attacking you will be worn out by the defence sooner or later and you will lose.
Now, I’m really glad that I made it to this school instead of the other school. I don’t think I would be this much appreciated there.
