Carpe Diem

Oh look, the everlasting holidays are ending.

BANG!

I foresee only 3 reactions to this statement. First, you tear your clothes and moan with sorrow, weeping for the ‘good old days’. Second, you just shrug your shoulders because you have passed the pitfall that is SECONDARY SCHOOL – or just school for the matter. Third, you are ecstatically happy because you have been rotting at home and well, the TV’s no good anyway.

Well, regardless of your reaction, the fact remains the fact. And what is it? School is starting.

It’s time to set those alarms a good hour earlier than the intended time to wake up. Why? So that we can press the snooze button about 14 times and still be on time (this is a personal experience). It’s time to stretch those leg muscles and track a mini mountain every day in the form of 3 flights of stairs (yet another personal experience). It’s time to retreat into our studies and become literally lifeless because of those exam seasons (personal experience, again). And I’m sure you can end endless little quirks about your personal experiences in school.

However, things are a little different for me this year. I’m feeling very nostalgic about going back to school this time. It could be because this is my last year of compulsory schooling (I can legally go out and work next year). It’s my last year of seeing all those familiar faces I’ve grown up with. It’s the last year of wearing the green uniform (and even if I come back for Form Six, at least the prefect uniform is not ALL green). This year is going to be a year of many lasts. And this could be the last year to leave behind something meaningful in my school.

What will I be remembered as when I leave? That’s the question many of us ask whenever we are leaving a season behind and embarking on a new one. Each of us wants to leave behind something, whether big or small, to know whether our lives made a difference in someone else. Basically, leaving a legacy behind. I admit I’m one of them. Just as many lives have touched mine, my prayer is that some way or another God has touched theirs through me.

A new year, a new season. Regardless of who or where you are, it’s a brand new start for each of us. It may feel like another mundane year but sometimes, we have to keep the end in mind. This same date next year, will you be able to look back and say yeah, my life counted for something? Every year is an opportunity for each of us, if you miss it, by golly you missed it. You only get to be this age once. I’m nearing my 17th birthday, and I only get to be 17 once.

Carpe diem my friends, seize the day.*

What will you leave behind this year?

* Inside joke to those who know it – I can totally pronounce it properly this time. It’s car-pay dee-em. Not die-em.