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Write about an occasion when you made an impulsive decision that caused much suffering to the people around you.

 

It was all dark outside. The birds’ sweet chirping was faint but audible. Though it was already midnight, I was still sitting in front of the mahogany desk, painstakingly preparing for the next day’s final-year exam. My droopy eyes kept yearning for the embrace of the warm and comfortable bed while my swatch tried its best to persuade me to sleep. Yet I knew I could not do so. Being a scholar, I must study hard to live up to everyone’s expectation.

 

The moment I turned on my CD player, a sense of relief swept over me. The music was the simplest monotone of an old Chinese song but it carried with itself a sense of nostalgia which really comforted me a lot. It was celestial, I thought. How exhilarated I was to hear the melody of home when I was in such a fatigued state!

 

I was, however, too overwhelmed by the music that I failed to realize how my Malay roommate, Nadiah, was suffering from my ‘late night concert’. Nadiah was a timorous Malay girl who was silent at most times. I guessed she only spoke when spoken to. Being considerable and kind-hearted, she was also the best friend of mine. Then, overwhelmed by the familiar Chinese music, I simply ignored the fact that my best friend was moving restlessly in her bed, shifting and re-shifting her body to try to find a relatively better position to sleep. She could not escape. The music was everywhere. I did not switch off the CD player until it was about three o’clock in the morning. Soundly asleep at that moment, I was quite contented. With the help of the Chinese songs, I had been able to revise all the biology concepts before the actual day of the exam. “There was nothing to be worried about,” I told myself reassuringly, “you are going to get your distinction.”

 

Three and a half hours later when I finally woke up with swollen eyes, I was quite surprised to find that Nadiah was already sitting in front her desk. How unusual it was! Nadiah never woke up before seven o’clock! Did she change her mind and decide to adopt a healthier lifestyle? But before I could make a guess, she left the room. The door was slammed with such a great force that it almost dropped out of the frame. “She must be greatly offended,” I concluded after futile attempts to push back the door. But I could not think of any reason to her actions. “I treated her like a sister,” I muttered mournfully, “how could she do this to me?”

 

Finishing the exam with glee, I returned home early. It was such a blissful day! Everything I revised had come out in the exam and I was bale to answer them well. I was so jubilant that I decided to buy a snack for Nadiah when she came home. Smiling happily, I waited for Nadiah in anticipation.

 

Apparently, she was in no mood of sharing my happiness. She was obviously gloomy, of not devastated. Her eyes were scarlet and swollen from crying and her face dissolved into tears. Blood drained form her pale face. She sobbed slightly as she began, “Jinglin, you have completely ruined my final-year exam?”

 

“What?” I asked in disbelief. I did not know she had exams that day. However, I did not think I could possibly be the one who let her suffer. I loved her so much.

 

“Your Chinese music,” her voice became high and hysterical with anger, “it was extremely annoying and I couldn’t sleep last night. I just waited open-eyed in the bed until you switched off that god-damn CD player!” She waved her fists in front of my face in agitation.

 

“And what happened to your exams?” I carefully asked with a sense of guilt.

 

“I slept during the exam,” she shrugged, “and that’s all about it.”

 

I wilted as the words set in. How could I have been so cruel? I sacrificed Nadiah’s good results in order to get mine! I must be stupid and out of my mind to decide to play music in the midnight!

 

Knowing that it was too late to make any changes to the situation, I wrote a sincere letter to Nadiah, hoping that she would accept my apologies. However, she simply moved out of the room and lived with another friend of hers. We had lost contact since then. My grief grew like a cancer. I had learnt from this experience that one must be considerable to the people around him, or he would soon lost their love and trust. 

From <Alexander - Child of a Dream> by Valerio Massimo Manfredi

 

'Remeber, my Queen, the story of Achilles, ancester of your great family: he was given a choice of a brief but glorious life or a long and dull one. He chose the former, he sacrificed his life for a moment of blinding light.'

Another EL holiday assignment.

 

Eleven boys were playing joyfully near a railway. They chased each other, raced down all the way with excitement and laughed with jubilation. Among them, a small little boy named Tommy was strangely quite. He seemed unbothered by his cheerful mates and his indifferent behavior finally disappointed them. They asked him with curiosity, “Tommy, why didn’t you play with us?”

 

“Because this is very improper,” he said, frowning slightly, “to play at a railway where the train may come at any moment.” Then he suggested that they played at another railway which was deserted long time ago so that they would not be life-threatened by the incoming train. “What a coward!” They fleered at him and quickly went back to continue their exciting games.

 

Tommy was dejected. He let out an audible sigh, sagged his shoulders in defeat, apparently not pleased with the idea that his mates disbelieved his words. Nevertheless, his minds told him that he would better move to the deserted railway to avoid any kinds of inconvenient accident. With a bitter smile lingered on his face, he slowly walked towards the deserted railway, alone.

 

A gentleman saw the whole thing and decided to persuade the other ten boys to move to a safer place. However, at this very moment, the train arrived. The safety of the children was starting to worry the gentleman and now he had a tough decision to make. He could either shift the rail so that the train went to the deserted railway and killed the little boy or he could just wait there watching the other ten boys being bumped by the train, losing their precious lives in no time. Either way, somebody has to die. He hesitated. Tommy, the little boy was definitely innocent. He had made the right choice of playing at a safe place. However, sacrificing him could save ten other lives. Anyone, the gentleman thought, anyone who understood mathematics would choose ten lives over one. So he extended out his arms, managing to shift the rail.

 

“Stop this,” Themis, the goddess of justice, blindfolded and holding a set of scales, demanded in enunciated words. “stop this stupid action of your, human-being.” The gentleman looked up at her in surprise. “Why? Ten lives are more precious than one, aren’t they?”

 

“No,” she corrected him, “not at all. Justice favors not the majority. It is actually the nature law of fairness which states that everybody deserves what he deserves. In this case, the little boy made his decision which saved himself from the god of death. He should thus keep his life. On the other hand, the ten boys ignored good suggestions and chose to act against rules. It was a grave mistake and therefore, they had to die.”  She concluded dryly.

 

Leaving no time for the gentleman to react, she allowed the train to pass over her, and, with a huge ‘bang’ sound, ten beautiful lives were taken, forever.

Notes:I respect everyone's political views, but her comments are certainly not bright.

For the supporters of her comments because of the Chinese policy on Tibet, read a proper history book, go to visit Tibet and see it with your own eyes.

 

Sharon Stone can be a loudmouth idiot. Most Americans and Europeans know this because the actress is always draping herself over podiums and auction stages, loudly and obnoxiously trying to drum up support for charity causes. While the end may in fact justify the means, the means are still garish and a mite self-serving. Well now, blessed be, we can share our burdensome kinda-like/hate for Ms. Stone with another 1/5 of the world's population.

Yes Red China has wised up to the actress's ways after she blunderingly suggested on a red carpet that the massive earthquake in Szechuan was a bit of "karma" spurned on by the Chinese "not being very nice" to her "good friend" the Dalai Lama (who, as it turns out, has praised China's disaster relief efforts). The nation has now decided to issue a boycott of sorts, or at least its actors have. "This actress does not deserve our attention. The best way is to ignore her. I will never watch her films in future," said actor Liu Wei. Others Chinese performers have said she lacks "respect" and "humanity." Well, OK, we wouldn't go that far. She's just a little much sometimes. Oh, Sharon.

Comments:

1.On behalf of the other four billion people on God's green Earth, I would like to ask Sharon Stone to shut the fuck up, too.

2.She does lack respect and humanity. I am going there.

3.Considering that Chinese people cannot be more united now than ever since new China was born, any hostile comments on Chinese people and even Chinese government would trigger country-wide anger and attack. This is not nationalism, just how human responds to unfairness and distorted views

4.Wow, if the Sichuan Earthquake was karma to China, then I wonder what 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina was to the USA. It's pretty ironic how she's faking her sympathy for Tibetans when a lot of Sichuan residents are Tibetans as well. Way to shoot yourself in the foot, Sharon. You sure are stoned.

5.Ms. Sharon Stone's comment about China's deadly earthquake almost parallel to the extremists cheering after the 911 attack.

 

 

Title: A time when you received an unexpected piece of news

 

Note: This essay is purely fictive.

 

Nobody had expected the earthquake to happen so suddenly. The last time Sichuan had had an earthquake was about nine years ago and at that time it was definitely not as abrupt and massive as it was now. Several seconds ago we were still having our torturing English lesson. Miss Lim, as usual, was haranguing us on the dropping English results when a crevice, all of a sudden, appeared strangely on the wall. Before we could realize what had happened, the entire classroom started shaking.

 

Our desks moved from one side of the classroom to another, hitting the undefended students with their keen edges. The wall of our humbly furnished classroom shook vigorously and my heart skipped a bit at the sound of the ceiling light swaying back and forth. Seconds later, the headmaster’s desperate voice rushed out from the loudspeaker, making it very clear to us that the largest-ever earthquake in the history of China was taking place, now.

 

Before long, all lights died. Trapped in the gloomy classroom, I had to admit that I was actually extremely terrified. I fidgeted restlessly, looking this way and that, hoping to find a comforting company. In the eerie darkness, however, only Miss Lim’s dark silhouette was visible. She, too, was acting like a deer in headlights, stunned. I cleared my throat, opened my mouth, wanted to console her but only managed a muffled cry. Silence reigned for several minutes and abruptly, the aftershock took place.

 

I was sure the entire world started swiveling around. Trying hard to balance myself, I felt the content in my stomach jolted slightly. The thought of the building was about to fall down at any moment came across my mind and I was panicky at the thought of ending up right in this devastated classroom. How could this happen, I asked myself. I had not told mum and dad how much I loved them, nor had I confessed my love to the boy next door. Never had I thought about doing these things before because I always believed that the time had not come yet. But they suddenly became so important and urgent now. I was despondent at the thought of never letting my parents know how much I loved them.

 

We all hid ourselves under the desks, not daring to move even an inch.  Some of my classmates huddled together, whimpering, praying piously for Buddha’s mercy. It took what like an eternity for the disastrous earthquake to end. Jing was the first one who was daring enough to step out and check for casualties. After about five minutes, with uncertainty, she announced, “Well, I think it is probably over now.” Staring at each other, we looked rather puzzled, not sure whether we should move or not. Finally, we moved out of our shelters cautiously. “I’m glad it’s over.” Wong was the only one who managed to give a complete sentence. The rest of us were absolutely too petrified to response.

 

Looking back, I could only describe this earthquake experience as one of the most bizarre one I had ever experienced in my life.  I had never felt so close to death and so fortunate to be alive. I saw the fragility of life and was determined to no to waste any time to tell my beloveds before it became too late.