CCC-----Civilian Conversion Course

A new dawn approaches....

I attended the NIE camp over the weekend and truth be told....it was considered fun. Though I was "sabo-ed" a couple of times( imagined being picked to be nominee for best camper despite me being the quietest amidst the cheers, the least active in the games and definitely the last to volunteer to perform the tasks assigned.) Thank goodness I did not win....trust me....I would not hesitate to dig myself a hole if I did.

Perhaps I would what many termed as a slow starter...with the exception to the few people I knew before entering...it seems I have yet to warm up to anyone else in particular. I do not know why...but it seems NS may have robbed me of the ability to even engaged in a decent conversation with an unfamiliar face. The conversations either do not veer far away from NS related issues or any feeble attempts are usually met with awkward one-liners. Perhaps what a friend said was indeed true......I do need a " Civilian-conversion Course"....or so we often joke about.

Time will most probably allay the awkwardness I felt initially...yet it seems the NS-ness within me will not subside in the foreseeable future. Not to be mistaken...I derived much joy as well as sorrow amidst the 2 years...yet I guess it is a rightful price to pay for gaining such an experience.

No wonder it is said that NS is a "life-changing" experience.

Anyway...my journey as a teacher has begun albeit as a trainee...After listening to the speeches by full fledged teachers who were seemingly trying to convince us that we had made the right decision...all I can do is hope that it indeed is. A particular moment resonated within the walls of my mind when a speaker quoted from the Robin William's movie, Patch Adams.

"If you treat a patient, you may win or lose.

If you treat a person, I guarantee you will win."

Applying the analogy on the education front...if all a teacher cares about in a student are merely his grades..he may either only pass or fail. However...should a teacher look beyond that...what presents ahead is instead an opportunity to mould a person's character and perception in his pursuit of the meaning of life...a cause far greater than meeting the pass or fail grade.