Before I started telling the story, I would like to ask all of you a question! What does Mandarin mean to you? Most of the people may wonder why I ask them such a strange question since they think that Mandarin is nothing special but a language which is easy to deal with. However, Mandarin does mean a lot to me. In fact, through learning Mandarin, my views of life have changed greatly.
I started learning Mandarin when I was in Form one. Before that time, I knew nothing about this language since there was no Mandarin courses in my primary school. Unfortunately, this was not the case in other primary school in my district. All of my classmates have learnt Mandarin for at least two to three years and I was really falling behind. The first part of our Mandarin lessons were about the phonetic symbols of the language, which was also the whole syllabus of the first-term Mandarin test. My Mandarin teacher thought that everyone in the class have learnt Mandarin in their primary schools so she just went through the whole section with us sloppily. When the others think that those phonetic symbols were a piece of cake, I think they are the symbols from other space. When others were busy filling in the blanks on the answer sheet during the test, I just kept staring on the question paper, feeling that there was not a single question that I could do.
After I had received the Mandarin test results, I felt so upset that I blamed my primary school, my Mandarin teacher and even the education department for forcing the Hong Kong students to learn this language. I worked really hard before the test but it seemed to me that I could not get the marks I deserved. I was so disappointed that I could not help crying. At that time, I told myself not to put any efforts into this subject anymore. As a result, my Mandarin was really poor throughout my first year in my secondary school.
When I was in Form two, my new Mandarin teacher was my class teacher. One day she asked me to go to her office and have a little chat about my performance in the subject of Mandarin. She wanted to know why I worked so hard in the other subjects but neglected Mandarin. After knowing my situation, she encouraged me to exert myself in Mandarin once again. And her advice changed my life. Although I have never seen that teacher since I left the school, I can still remember every word she said on that day. She told me that everybody had to face a lot of challenges throughout their lives. Some people might think that the world had treated them unfairly but what they did not know what others were facing other difficulties at the same time. It was unwise to escape from reality and keep blaming the others. For a clever person, he would rather choose to take the first step to face the challenges than spending time asking himself why he had to be the unlucky one. After listening to my class teacher’s advice, I went to a bookstore to buy a Mandarin phonetic symbolic poster which was for primary school students originally and stuck it on the wall of my bedroom. Every day I got up from the bed, I read those symbols aloud. I also forced myself to read the passages in the Mandarin textbook for a least once a day to improve my pronunciation. I held firmly to the belief that my Mandarin was not as good as the others’, I would pay double effort into this subject until I achieved my goal. As a matter of fact, it really worked. My mandarin improved greatly after that and because of that you may ask me what I have learnt after all these things. And my answer is that there are two kinds of people in the world. One is to be jealous of someone’s success, feeling sad for themselves and the other type blaming the others. Second is to do something about it and believe that if other people can do it, so can I. And only the latter one would be able to be the winner of life.
I am the only girl in my family. As the only girl, I grew up under my parents and three brothers’ protection and care. You can imagine, I didn’t face any great difficulties, but I was flooded by love. It seems that I was just a baby who doesn’t know the darkness in the community. But the situation changes after a competition. It was a story telling competition. Honest speaking, it was new and really a challenge for a primary e student. I worked hard, since my performance would show in front of my family. I really wanted to get a good result to prove that I was the best.
I exerted myself to the utmost. I had intensive training for sharpening the story-telling skills as if an ant does in preparation for the winter. I was upgrading. However, I didn’t stop for a rest. My teacher teased me about my abnormal diligence. ‘You are a machine. Right? Ping.’ My teacher said. The competition started and the next competitor was me. I was very nervous. The heartbeat was loud enough to hear if you were close to me. Then, I was on the stage. As many children did their first time, I was too tense. So I made mistakes and certainly the result was desperately bad. I was upset. Tears rolled down my cheek. At that moment, I was as fragile as glass which is easily broken. I didn’t know the reasons that led me lose in the contest. It was abnormal that I could not do my best on the stage, I thought. I was nervous and forgot how to make the story run smoothly. Apparently, I was lack of experience. However, I was totally lost. I could not find the exit until my teacher encouraged me and showed me my drawback – nervousness and fear. ‘You’re got what it takes. But it’s your first time. You feared to tell story in front of plenty people. Be confident! You may be a winner then,’ my teacher said.
It’s true that I feared when I was on the stage and there were many eyes which looked at me. Since I never faced to strangers to express my opinions. It was unnecessary for me as everything ran on the way that I wanted. However, the real way of the future won’t. I knew the fact after that contest. For an innocent girl, it’s unacceptable.
Of course, I couldn’t. But I had to accept since it is true. Faced the reality, I stood up and ran to the target. No matter what I’ve done, some people are waiting for my downfall. It is a natural law in the world. But, I truly believe if I kept plugging away, I would succeed – so, I can’t hide behind my family again just like the little me. I must see my life as a card that has been dealt to me and I will try to make the most of it.
The breath of life God gave our human forms make us what we are. Though it might seem like a mere figment compared to the unending expanse of the universe, life is actually a very significant and beautiful phenomenon. What separates us life forms from other entities is that we have intelligence and are capable of manipulating our environment by our own free will. As human life forms, we live, think and act with our God-given abilities and enjoy privileges like friendship and love, very unlike non-living things. But the sad part is, there are those who will not even contemplate the beauty of life.
There was once a teenage boy called Jason. He was a poor boy who lived with his mother in a tiny wooden cottage in a village on hill next to a wood. Jason’s dad died when he was just a baby. They were so poor they barely had enough food to live by. But they also had a cow which Jason took very good care of … he even named the cow ‘Copper’ and they were good friends. Even though they were so poor, they remained content with what they had and lived with positive attitudes towards life.
Jason went to the village school and he was an average student . He was hardworking and always strove to do better. As expected, there is a ‘villain’ in my story, and her name is Samantha. She was Jason’s classmate and was the class snob. She was very self-centered and loved acting dominant over everyone, much to her classmate’s disgust. Her father was a billionaire and she had everything she wanted. She got good grades and thought she was better than everyone else.
One cold winter’s day, Samantha had to take her dog for a walk since their butler was very ill. She deeply resented this, but her mother forced her to do it. So she put a collar around the Dalmatian and fumbled out grumbling, with her dog trailing behind her. She decided to walk in the woods, and she was busy being furious at the world that she soon got lost. She wandered around in circles for two whole hours while panic gripped her. She looked at her dog and became furious because she felt the dog caused it. She then kicked it and it ran away howling. What a girl!
Samantha was still wandering around and hating the trees for looking so innocent when it happened. A rabbit darted from some bushes in front of her with a fox chasing close behind. The rabbit ran as fast as it could, but the fox soon caught it and you know what happened next. Samantha was a little shaken after the incident. She looked back at where the rabbit had darted from. She thought she could see some movement, so she moved closer and saw two baby rabbits. She immediately understood the full picture of what had happened… the mother had acted as bait and drawn the fox as far away from her babies as possible to save them.
Samantha was touched and picked up the two baby bunnies. At the same time, she heard a familiar dog’s bark. Her heart raced as she called out for her dog. She saw the Dalmatian in the matter of seconds with a boy running behind it.
“Hi, Jason, I am ever so glad to see you ! How did you find me?” she said.
“It was your dog. She’s really clever,” said Jason. “But she seems be hurt, what happened?”
Samantha told Jason all that had transpired while Jason, who knew the woods like the back of his hand, led them back. Samantha was still carrying the baby rabbits when they reached Jason’s house. He let them inside and served everyone warm milk from Copper.
As everyone was resting comfortably after the day’s adventure, Samantha went and sat right next to Jason. She said, “Jason, thank you so much for saving me. I also owe a lot to my dog. Oh Jason, I’ve been a terrible person!” Jason answered, “It’s ok Samantha, we all make silly mistakes.
Samantha replied, “I guess, even the animals live a more honorable life than I have, recently. The animals…they really value life, don’t they? That mother rabbit gave her life to save her babies. My own dog saved me by finding you. I guess it all comes down to love. I’ve never thought of love as being so powerful. Different forms of life protect each other because life is a valuable thing. The phenomenon of life is really beautiful! I vow to change my attitude and treat others like how I would want them to treat me. I shall start with these two bunnies. Thank you again Jason.”
She smiled at him and held his hand. He smiled back and leaned closer…and closer…
If we can’t notice the beauty of the life God gives us, how can we be happy? I couldn’t agree more with Earl Nightingale when he said, “Our attitude towards life determines life’s attitude towards us.”
By the way, Jason and Samantha got married seven years later and had a daughter called Zoe…which means ‘life’ in Greek.