Do you enjoy your life?

To me, it's really important to live each day as if it's your last.

Lately, some of my friends have been calling me out because they are being overwhelmed by a sense of disillusionment. To some of my peers, the workplace has become a cold and unforgiving prison. They have ceased to feel beauty in their lives and see the world around them in a cynical light. A number of my friends had lofty dreams and aspirations...some yearned for high-flying corporate careers, others a chance to make important decisions in the civil service. However, many confessed that their dreams have turned out to be nothing more than empty delusions after a few years on the job.

It's amazing how quickly the heart can lose it's innate sense of wonder. It takes just a few weeks for a passionate and idealistic fresh graduate to change into a subservient, overworked wage slave. The biggest irony lies in the fact that this wage slave considers himself to be blessed with a job...Are human beings really so easily contented? Or is there something more in life that we should all search for? These questions keep my mind occupied just before I go to sleep.

Take a look at the rush hour crowd at City Hall....I've never seen a commuter who looks genuinely happy with his life. I think the gravitational pull in our MRT carriages is especially strong-somehow, everyone's face is pulled, twisted and distorted to form a glum and sullen frown. You realise that the only people who seem immune to this odious "frowning syndrome" are the children...and sometimes they too succumb, especially if they are bearing the heavy burdens of their school bags.

Someday I'd love to visit Buenos Aires or Rio De Janeiro...There is something in the lifestyle of Latin Americans that is so contrary to the empty careerism that many of us suffer from. Something at the heart of Latin American culture inspires a lust for life. Many Latin Americans are relatively poorer than us in terms of wealth, but they lead lives that are so much richer...Our poor whine about rising prices... The poor in the barrios and favalas of Brasilia do the samba. It is interesting to note that the Brazilian government does not give out any Progress Package or utility rebates to the poor folks in the slums...yet they continue to dance and celebrate the beauty of life.

Do you take enough time to smell the roses? I think it is important for all of us to appreciate what we have before us. Earlier, I talked about how a job gives some people some form of contentment...I'd like to point out that this sense of "contentment" is ephemereal and transient. Real contentment lies in opening our hearts to the beauty of what we have. Take time to praise the people around you. Take time to count your blessings. Take time to remind yourself that God is watching your back.

Ok, an end to the philosophical portion of my post.

Last few days have been really tiring...flying between NUS and Rosyth Primary to fulfil my dance and teaching commitments. A memorable incident happened to me on Tuesday.

Rosyth was hosting some students from Shanghai. All the teachers were reminded to check our students' behaviour and appearance in order to leave a good impression in the hearts of our guests.

As usual, my class was loud and wild. It seems that every time I step into a class the kids have to go berserk for at least 10 min...I wonder why they are so happy to see me, even though the feeling is rarely mutual.

Over the course of a couple of months, I have grown quite close to a few students. However, what happened on Tuesday left me totally stunned. The P was bringing the Shanghai kids around our school when an anonymous Rosythian dashed across the corridor screaming,

" Miiiii-sTerrrr SiiiiiiiiM!"

and then proceeded to give me a bear hug!

Well, what could I do but smile? It would have been a bit impolite to forcibly extricate my leg from the little one's embrace, would it not? The little boy's entourage surged forth and followed suit. For a moment, I was nearly strangled by the deluge of little arms around my body. Some of these kids have not taken a good bath for awhile, so I was hoping that they would show some restraint in their physical affection. However, that was not to be...they seemed adament to drown me in their sweat and saliva. Bunch of cute Saint Bernards....

The Shanghai students were equally stunned...They simply could not imagine hugging their own walnut faced teachers!

Anyway, this is the high point of my first working experience...not the long hours spent reading Archie in the library or the lazy afternoons spent drinking coffee in the staff lounge. Getting hugged by so many young Rosythians in front of these foreign guests is the highest honour for an ex-Rosythian like me.

I love the kids cos they are so human. They are not "sugar and spice and all things nice"...neither are they little Angels...By the way, the boy who hugged me asked me if I could chop off his form teacher's head and then teach his class forever.

I think I would look back on my teaching days with much fondness and nostalgia...and to think I hated teaching so much when I first started!