"You don't know what you've got till it's gone".
Most of us are familiar with this saying as we've all heard it at the very least, once in our life. But then, why is this saying so popular among people? Or rather, why has this saying become more and more common to society nowadays? The answer is quite simple. As modernization takes place more and more rapidly, and society gets busier and busier with everyday life, people tend to forget bout the simple things in life, and take them for granted. However, all it takes for us to come back down to planet Earth is a tragedy. As sad as it may sound, it is true.
In recent years, we've heard different forms of tragedies that has occured all around us. Most of them are caused by natural disasters, such as typhoons, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, and the list just gets longer by the day. Whenever we read the papers, watch the news on television, or see posters pasted around, all concerning these unfortunate events, no doubt any human would feel a sense of sadness or pity. Noone can say that they understand how the victims of these disasters feel, not unless they've been through something identical themselves. Noone but the victims themselves will be able to know truly how deep the anguish has been, how much their lives have been affected by these events.
That brings me to another point, a message to everyone: Try not to say to someone you know, a friend perhaps, that you understand how they feel, if you don't really know how they're feeling. But of course, if you have happened to have gone through a similar situation as him/her, then that's alright. "I understand.." is being said all too often today, especially among peers. Again, why? Maybe it's just cause we tend to want to make our friends feel better about whatever that they may be going through, such as bad test results, or relationship problems, things like that. So when we say that we understand how they feel, they'll know that even though we don't really understand, we do care. I don't know, perhaps.
Anyways back to the main topic for this post, let's not talk about tragedies or natural disasters just yet (maybe after I've brushed up on my general knowledge), and take a few steps back, simplify things for everyone a little. What do you have in your life every single day, that some other people may not have? Hold on, to make things slightly more interesting, let's make a list. Of all the things that us (mainly teenagers) just love to complaint about all the time, plus the other way (the better way) to look at things.
Complaint 1
Teacher, enough homework la!!
Wa, she crazy meh give so much homework..
Omg, I got double tuition today..damn sien la wei..
Decomplaint 1
No doubt, the workload that we get nowadays is immense. Not forgetting all the tuition classes we have to go to everyday. But are we not educated members of the society? Are we not capable of thinking, and making our own decisions? (I'm refraining myself from saying stuff like 'Look at those kids in Africa. We are lucky to have the chance to go to school' - it's being said too often).
Complaint 2
Sorry la no credit couldn't reply you last night..
Your phone (nokia N95) damn nice wei..look at mine (nokia 3315).
Stupid -insert name of local mobile operator-, send so many messages only one got through. And that was like 6 hours later!
Decomplaint 2
Just wait for a couple of days/weeks, you'll get more credit. It's good enough you have a handphone, some parents don't really think it's necessary for a non-working teenager to have one. And yeah, at the very least you have a sim card with credit that allows you to stay in touch with your friends, even though it may suck at times cause of the 'traffic jams' at those times of the years (eg. New Year), causing it to get stuck or be slow. Complaint somemore, and you'd be better off writing letters by hand and mailing it with stamps to ALL your friends just to wish them 'Happy New Year'.
Complaint 3
What you doing? Stop pinching me la!!
Omg stop singing please..you repeat that song dunno how many times di..
Yorr, copy my homework somemore la. Copy la! COPY LA!!
Decomplaint 3
You have friends who're close to you enough to pinch you for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Do you think that you can just go around poking, pinching, or smacking anyone you see in your school? I don't think so (unless you have very thick skin with slight instability up there in your head). What else? Your friend's voice may not be American Idol worthy, but would it hurt you, would it damage you permanently if he/she sings 'Apple-bottom jeans, boots with the fur, the whole club was looking at her..She hit the flow, next thing you know shorty got low low low low low low low low..'? Just sing/dance along in class la! And..too bad la if your friend doesn't do their homework. Just think of it as charity to a lazy bum.
(All of the above does not apply if that particular person who's annoying you isn't your friend. If he/she is just one of those annoying people in class with nothing else better to do, be grateful that you're not the one doing what he/she is doing).
Alright, so I'm only capable of coming up with 3 complaints and decomplaints (aka solutions/suggestions/words of wisdom/nonsense). But my point is that, there is really no point of you dreading something, feeling bad about something, and of course, complaining about something cause nothing much'll happen if you're just all talk, no action. Seriously, that's usually the case. When someone goes on and on about how he/she is gonna do this, improve that, get rid of this, forget about that, and so on. In the end, most of the time nothing gets done. Again again, why?? Some people put the blame on the daily routine of life.
"Yeah, I've thought about doing that before. But then ah, suddenly I remembered Add Maths project deadline is tomorrow, so I go do project. After that forgotten what I was thinking of doing di. Not my fault wert my memory no good".
Solution: Next time you have something in mind that you really wanna do, write it down on a Post-it and stick it on your room door or something. You won't forget about it. Reminders/Notes on handphones work well too.
Am I not able to stick with the topic? Yes, I should just summarize up this post before it gets too lengthy and wordy. So here's a checklist:
Family: Don't complaint bout your little brother/sister that's really annoying. Be grateful that you have family by your side.
Friends: Don't complaint if they reply your messages a little slow. Be grateful that they even talk to you (that they don't think you're super duper annoying and don't even wanna talk to you).
Others: Don't complaint that the things you have aren't good enough. Be grateful knowing that you're doing alright with a roof over your head.
Still complaining? Well then, don't think I can help you much, maybe you can try your school's counselor or a psychologist or a therapist or something. Just bear in mind that whatever the situation, no matter how bad or sucky it may seem, there's always another way (the better way) to look at it. And then maybe you don't have to keep going back to the line, "You don't know what you've got till it's gone".
Live life to the fullest.
Live life the better way.
Started off with us carrying the stage over.
After the activities (marching & telematch), everyone got into position.
TL Ming Hong gave his short speech. 
While they waited patiently 
As the MC for the first half of the ceremony..
We 'cross-marched' around the horse shoe and ended up on the stage together. Perfect timing.
COH (Court Of Honor) of 08 and 09 exhanged vows.
To signify us 'passing it on', we handed our rambu to them. 
And finally, stepped down (literally). 
They recited their Scouts' Honor (thankfully they were a whole lot more serious as compared to the 'rehearsal' we had).
Istiadat bendera conducted by the second MC, Yan Yun (TL baru).
Oh right, before we bersurai-ed.. 
We were told to blindfold ourselves 
Guys, protect protect! 
Surprise surprise..
They sure damn syok la get to splash us..
But when we opened our blindfolds.. Wow.
They took turns to present us all a little somthing. 
From pioneering models to cards to T-shirts. 
Not forgetting our teacher advisor as well. 
And here's Khoy Yan giving out the cards she made for all of us.
While Derrick took the liberty of presenting us with the bigger version of Khoy Yan's cards. 
Just a small group photo with those who were still around after the ceremony. 
Did I mention the banner they made for us? :)
And also to everyone else who signed this (: 
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