friends

Today has been quite productive! Finished macroeconomics and gravitation for physics. Hmmm but I'm still too slow for comfort, and where many others have already finished 1 or 2 subjects, I'm still struggling to complete 1. I guess everyone has different pace of absorptions and different standards of studying. 2 more weeks though. It's a worrying time, but I will live.

And today we chanced upon the topic of sustaining friendships beyong JC, beyond NS, beyond Uni. We seem to take many of our friendships for granted, living in the false illusion that we will always stay as friends forever. Such a belief, while ideal, is certainly not going to happen if we don't start making the effort to keep in contact even now while we are in JC. Looking back at these two years, how many friends can we count on to keep in touch with? Are there friends you have stopped talking because you have been too busy? What about the friends you used to be close to but somehow lost contact with?

The new always displaces the old. As much as we don't wish to believe it, there are vestiges of truth in this saying. After all, we are tuned to Darwin's frequency, and our bodies adapt to survive in the competitive rat race that has consumed this little globe we are living in, and thus the obsolete gets thrown into oblivion while the new and relevant stay. But as much as it is true, I would like to believe otherwise too. I think there will be friendships which can survive for a long time. In fact, I want them to survive. But friendships can only remain if both parties play their role. Just like unrequited love, a one-sided affair in friendship will never work.

Looking past the cloud of pessimism, there are still a few more months ahead, and it is in these precious little time left that we get to see who we will possibly keep in contact with in future. Friends you used to be close to, friends whom you once worked closely with, and friends who you find have the potential to become better friends with... this seems like the timely occasion to show these people how much you really care, and how much you really want to get to know them.

Friendship truly embodies the saying, "quality over quantity". Befriending a person superficially is easy - anyone with an outgoing and warm personality can achieve that, and even those without can do so simply with greater effort. Knowing the person beneath the surface, that's what true friends are all about. Don't be afraid to show that you care, and don't be afraid to do things you normally don't to show your friends you care. Because if you don't do it now, the next opportunity you have will lie in the realm of regret.

5 years down the road... would you rather remember having daringly took a step forward and failed, or would you live regretting not doing it, always trapped in wonderment of what the outcome would have been?

And so dear friends, spend a little more time catching up with old pals, talking to lost friends and reigniting your friendships around you over the next few months. Because if there's anything more important than studying, it will be making lifelong friends.