郑欣杰 香港科技大学
Once upon a time, there was a primitive tribe. Swarky was always a great warrior among the natives, running through the forest everyday barefooted to hunt for his people. One day an explorer from the outside world visited the village. As a token of gratitude, he offered a pair of trainers to Swarky. To someone lived his whole life before without wearing shoes, this present was incredible.
The very next day, Swarky went out to hunt again, but this time proudly with his new pair of trainers. The shoes gave his legs protections from injuries, allowed him to run faster and even to jump higher. Looking at his feet, Swarky was so absorbed. ‘What a great equipment!’ he thought. In order not to make this pair of treasures to be ruined by mud and dirts, Swarky kept his head down and walked very carefully- but soon that became the problem. In a wild jungle, he was lost. His focus was so confined to his feet that he ended up fail to track the path.
This little sad story sounds very paradoxical, isn’t it. The best equipment of the hunter ended up to be the reason for his fall. Ironically, this is what exactly can be applied to our current generations. Similar to that pair of trainers, resources in our society meant to empower the people. Education opens our minds, career offers us opportunities, and housing provides shelter and security. The pressure either in school or in office are supposed to be our best driving force towards success. It equipes us to be better hunters in our lives, so that we can achieve our inspirations and also to provide for our loved ones.
Yet, look at what is happening now. We have all those intensive training for scoring high in the National Examination, classes that teaches nothing but examination techniques. We have people that quit their interested jobs, but instead entering a speculation market in search for instant material gain. We have all sorts of competitions right in front of us that blind us to see the longer future. Rather than leveraging the resources in our society to reach our goals, we made them work against us. We all suffered from myopia because we only look at what is at our feet. As result, pressure we face everyday deviates us from our original dreams. At the end of the day, we are all Swarkys. We have the best trainers on our feet but no prey in our hands.
It is never too late to change, ladies and gentlemen. As you might wonder, Swarky at the end was saved by his villagers, luckily. Since then he learnt a valuable lesson. He still wears the trainers but now he focuses on the prey and the path, exiling his unmatched hunting skills. National Examinations, career selections are all just the means but not the goals of our lives. Let these pressure work on you rather than against you. If put keep your feet on present but eyes on future, you shall find these pressure would eventually protect you from injuries, allow you to run faster and reach even higher.
Thank you.
