LIEW ZHI HAO Class 4D1( 2010)
LEARNING TO APPRECIATE THE PERSON THAT I AM
A‘ weird’ boy finds his place on stage and finds true friends who love him for who he is. I am weird.
That would really be an understatement, especially when you are a teenager growing up, with all the attached expectations – look good, be cool, fit in. Predictably, I started off with people not taking to my character very well and I had struggled a lot in my initial years at Clementi Town Secondary School.
You know that line about life giving you lemons? That to me was Life rubbing lemons right in my face. And it hurt. A lot. It did not help that I had no self-confidence to support my eccentricity. And I was really stewing in despair.
Then one day, I realised that the only person who could get me out of this cauldron, and indeed the main person who eventually pulled me out of it … was me.
At the end of Secondary Two, I was asked by my teacher to take on the role of Jem in the school’ s first musical, To Kill A Mockingbird. Through this story, which was also my Literature text, I learned that“ there was nothing to fear but fear itself”. I also learned that“ you’ ll never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view”. Most of all, I learned that“ most people are nice, when you finally see them”. Instead of sitting around and waiting for people to climb into my skin, I decided to actively think from their point of view, and keep to being myself in the process. I realised that there were people who cared. Being in the musical allowed me to be whoever I am, and people who worked with me accepted, and most importantly, appreciated me for being me. Finding theatre was one of the best things for me, because I could be the‘ weird’ person I was.
By the time I graduated, I had co-founded CT Drama, was in the executive committee of the Student Council, and was more confident than ever. I had also gone on to take a main role in the school’ s second musical, Kopi Shop Rock!. Best of all, I found friends who would stay with me for life.
Today I have graduated from Anglo-Chinese Junior College, and am proud to say that I was in the Theatre programme there. I am appreciative of my supportive parents, teachers and friends, but I am most thankful that I managed to trust that there is nothing wrong with me. With all my experiences I am thankful I managed to change my mind-set and pick myself up and push on. At the end of the day, there is a long way to go in life, so make the best of it.
The painful things will then get better.
Zhi Hao was in the Dean’ s List in ACJC for Theatre Studies and is now serving the army, awaiting entry to National University of Singapore.
Our Time: Once A Clementeen, Always A Clementeen 031