Big Fish in a Small Pond - By Hanan Barth (Grade 12)

To Matrics 2011

 

When I was a young boy, all I wished for is to finish my schooling as soon as possible, but time wasn't on my side. I had 'so many years' left and those years seemed to drag on and on, but now when I love school the most, right now when I wish I could stay just a bit longer, time battles against me again.

Isn't this the classic story of every grown up. The story of how 'the high school years' where the best years of their lives? There's no way to slow everything down, so the best advice in the world is to seize every moment you have left.

 

Every day counts, and even though the time will come to say goodbye to the ones you've grown to love, the memories you make will be the strength that keeps you going. Tears are bound to roll down your face. It's hard to let your friends, your family, go, but for every tear you shed, the warmth and love you feel is more than overwhelming and deserving.

 

As you move on and embrace the challenges of your future, make the right choices, choose the right friends, but most importantly, remain true to yourself. Don't let the world break you and mould you into something you're not when you know that you were never a chameleon to start off with. It's not wrong to have fun and try new things, but are you willing to give up your integrity and your dignity for something that may seem right, but is only a gremlin in disguise?

 

Make sure that you know where you're going. You need to know your destination before you start the journey. And never forget where you come from, so that if you get lost along the way, you'll always have a safe place to take you in, and rehabilitate your hope. Even if the journey seems endless and torturous, don't lose focus on the goal and never give up.

 

Lastly, don't limit yourself. The future is literally in your hands now and everybody can see the potential you have. The possibilities of tomorrow are already in your dreams today.

 

When we were children, we talked like children, we thought like children and reasoned like children. But now we're all grown up, so let's put childish ways aside and find our true place in the world.

 

And if all else fails, never forget that these three things remain: unlimited faith, a burning hope, and endless love. The greatest of these is love.