The Chosen One
by Eugene Chung’18
As the clear winter sky turns a welcoming color of sunrise-pink in ready for a new start HAFS is once again, filled with stories. Different people from different places are ready to jump in to an elevated course in life, the next step to step out into the vast unknown. The difference might cause conflicts, find the place once longed to be a place of dread and pure torture or the place to fit in. It will take time. As a “sunbae”-or as a fellow traveler on the road of HAFS- there exist a few tips in order to start out on your own. Time, will always be a friend and foe. The art of listening is the master key in opening many ways of the future beyond. And the final lesson is to simply enjoy.
Keeping time is never a simple magic trick or an easy task. At a time where you have an SAT test coming up in March, mid-term in April, and 5 AP’s in May or if you can’t handle the number of tasks you have to finish for class, controlling your time is very important. Keeping a tight schedule printed out might be on top of your to-do list, but you need to remember that studying will not be the only task you need to finish in your days at school. When the season comes back, clubs will start rolling and you will be participating in different activities for your own future. However, in the midst, the mid-term period will be two-weeks in front of you and a panicked soul will be screaming inside. Time has its own power to control you in a life packed with loads of school-work, relationships and stress but you need to be the one in the control seat, looking over to pull a lever here and there. Keep time, and you won’t lose in the race.
Although it is great to present your ideas to the society, to speak up your own thoughts and decide according to them, listening might be even more valuable. The power of listening is stronger than what many expect. It is stronger than saying a few words of wisdom, or of advice. There can always be a point where you will want to put everything down, to say STOP to the running world around you and have a major break down. You will want someone to just stand by and listen to your sorrowful sobbing, your story and just let you be yourself. You will need a listener in any case. The art of listening is not a masterpiece of sweet, tempting words or to keep you from being who you are. Listen, and you will have a head start with relationships.
Enjoy. Try what you have wanted to do in different fields. It’s sweet 17 and the time of your life. If you love school and the friends around you, that is even better. Feel the freedom you have alone to reach out further into your own dream or dip one foot into a different field. It’s your chance. Sometimes, it’s better to try and regret rather than keeping a step back in the line. Enjoy, and you will see a different part of the world you have kept.
Remember that being different is not wrong. Don’t be sure that you are ahead in the race or falling back. Be sure in yourself that you are “the chosen one”, after all, you were chosen in this race. Never be the one to determine the other: to say you’re in and you’re out, to eliminate the ones who don’t seem to have the power to stand up to you, and never make foes. However, always be the one to give a hand, to smile and to listen.
Welcome, freshmen. I hope you will also be able to look back, and smile.
