Last night, I stayed up so late because I mistakenly started to watch the movie 3 Idiots at 10pm. At first I thought I just wanted to relax after spending my Saturday at the office, take a peek into the movie, and see if it’s really worth watching (it was highly recommended by one of my teammates and almost all the DVD vendors at the bangketa where I bought it). And yeah, obviously, I could no longer stop watching it until the end.
I loved the movie because it was so beautifully told and the lessons about life and learning are really great and so easy to relate to. Maybe it has touched me more because I have been both a student and an educator myself.
“Life is a race”
At an early age, so much has been expected from me as a student. Especially when I entered a high school full of “supposedly nerds” – I mean, really gifted kids – the “creme of the crop”, as they say. At first I was really scared because I thought I had to “compete” with all the other students to prove that I was good enough to belong. Luckily, a wise person told me that you really don’t have to compete with anyone, you only have to keep on striving to become a better you, to continuously improve, to outdo yourself, and seek your maximum potential. And while you’re at it, just have FUN, break some rules, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. “Life is NOT a race.”
“Suicide”
I really had goosebumps when I saw one of the students, “Joy Lobo” hanging inside his dorm room. I remembered an incident when I was still on my second year of teaching, I was busy computing grades because it was time to submit the final grades of the students when I felt there was some commotion in the neighborhood. My brother went out to investigate and came back with a very disturbing news. An engineering student who was supposed to graduate in a few weeks hanged himself in his room. Apparently, he didn’t pass his project defense and he can’t tell his parents that he can’t graduate because his family are already so excited for his graduation and are coming over in a few days. Instead of seeing him get his diploma on stage, they saw him lifeless, hanging inside his room.
“Be what you want to be, follow your heart”
Don’t try to be what other people (not even your parents/family) want you to be. Do what you want to do with your life. As what one of the characters said, “you may earn less, live in a simpler house, drive a smaller car…, but you will be happy.” Maybe I am fortunate enough to have been given the chance to live my dream, to follow my heart and do what I love to do. Once upon a time, fear kept me from doing what I wanted to do with my life. Good thing, before it was too late, I had the courage to step out of my comfort zone and try to follow my heart, to be in the industry and be a software engineer. I may not be good enough or an expert in this field yet but I am happily learning… and right now, this is all that matters. 🙂
My Lane 