Newsletter (2017-2018) April 2018 Newsletter | Page 20

to fail, so they used the methods they were more
familiar with, like covering the egg with all ten
straws, or making a basket and try to catch the
egg. While they were trying so hard not to fail,
they failed. They tried for the first time, the sec-
ond, the third; the same methods, the same fail-
ure, and I saw the light of hope in my teacher’s
eye was dying out. Then, I proposed, let’s try to
surround the egg with straws like a sea urchin.
Everyone was surprised, as if they had heard a
donkey speaking ­– how could it succeed? Stupid
suggestion by a stupid naughty child. But I knew
it was the way since my teacher stood up and
clapped. So we tried. The “sea urchin” landed
safe and sound on the concrete. My classmates’
mouth widened, my teacher’s eyes brightened.
Recklessness has helped me to think out of the
box; it gives me courage to fail, which always
eventually drives me to success.
We are told to grow up, told to be mature, and
many adolescents are desperate to grow up. You
will grow eventually, and at that point there is
no way to reverse time. There’s no room for reck-
lessness as society asks you to obey its flow with-
out mistakes. I have heard rumours about how
school restricts teachers’ way of teaching. New
teachers are passionate, so hopeful toward their
teaching life. They design activities, games and
anything that foster students’ interest in learn-
ing. “No!” most of the principals will probably
say. Because such activities drag down the pro-
cess of the pre-assigned schedule. While pursu-
ing a better quality of teaching, they stubbornly
refuse to be brave enough to think out of the box.
modifications to almost all of the movies, just for
a more stable film production. For example, Joss
Whedon, director of The Avengers and its sequel
Avengers: Age of Ultron, complained on Twitter
that he refused to cooperate further with Mar-
vel because they were too afraid to be reckless.
Although he later claimed the resignation was
a chance for him to try different genres of mov-
ies, it was clear that he left because of Marvel’s
restrictions. Whedon’s second movie for Mar-
vel was totally commercial, but fortunately, the
company spotted the problem and tried to give
the directors more room to use their creativity,
including choosing to hire directors of indepen-
dent films, like Anthony and Joseph Russo. I’m
just wishing Hong Kong could be more like Mar-
vel Studios, allowing recklessness to exist.
I asked my friends about their future, and most
of them told me they want a stable job. A sta-
ble job is awesome, but most of the stable jobs in
Hong Kong are mediocre and monochromatic.
What is life without a little bit of risk? Be reck-
less my friend! Keep that characteristic which
was given to us when we were born. I have no
regrets for my recklessness in my childhood and
adolescence, for I will be seeing it less and less
in the future. But I will keep it, as it is the key
toward happiness and creativity.
Take another example, Marvel Studios, the bil-
lion-making superhero movies producer. The
company was afraid of being reckless. They
judged the directors’ ideas and made some dull
APRIL 2018
18
The incredible Mike is an
Information and
Communication
Technology student with
a second major in English
language. He is brilliant,
handsome and tall.