Allow me to hijack something from the bustop opposite school:
"The rose that grew from constant pain will wither but once more grow again."
And a new class of intellectual vandals rises. This is one of the more read-worthy and note-worthy vandalism I've come across. Actually, the ONLY read-worthy and note-worthy one. Most vandalism are lame messages like "Me & BabyGal 4eva" or "Cutiepie is HAWT" or "For free s** call [number]" or "Bobby sux". I've seen enough to last me four lifetimes. Why do people think the back of the bus seat is a noticeboard? Seriously who really cares whether Cutiepie is hot? Not me. Yet as I was waiting for the bus today, I did a spot of reading (the few quotes scrawled untidily on the noticeboard at the bustop) to pass time, and the 'rose' quote was pretty meaningful. It served as a reminder to me, and helped me put many things into perspective.
Getting over the mini 'meltdown' (for want of a better word) yesterday, I realised that as much as I wished the flea market wouldn't be held over the next two days, it wouldn't be possible to hold it once Jury is concluded because then everyone would have gone off for their semester break. On a more noble tone, the needs of the poor in Batam far outweigh those of mine (although passing Semester 1 is a relatively reasonable need). The most important Jury of my life is a mere one week away, and time is of the essence here. Accumulating the number of hours spent doing the flea market and the travelling time to and from school over the next two days, I would have wasted nearly half a day. Yet life was never meant to be easy. Sometimes circumstances beyond our control force us to abandon that properly mapped out schedule. I guess we all have to learn to be flexible with our time and work around the obstacles hindering our paths. In this case, I'll probably have to pass up on a few days' sleep to make up for the lost time. Nothing I haven't done before, yet incredibly taxing nonetheless.
The rose that grew from constant pain will wither but once more grow again? How very apt. Life's road is never straight and smooth but rather strewn with boulders and potholes along the way. Many times we trip over a rock, get our paths blocked by boulders, or fall into potholes, and like the rose, we wither. Yet we constantly have to pick ourselves up from the ground, or climb out of the potholes and continue on our way and finish the journey laid out for us. I know I'm waxing lyrical here, but I always like to refer to all these metephors because they make sense in a really beautiful way. Life's poetry. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I've stopped griping about having to go down to school for two days and not being able to completely focus on my Jury preparations. I've learnt that sometimes we have to do things which we may not like because nobody promised us an easy life, but the promise I cling to in times like these is the promise that God will never place upon our shoulders more than what we can bear. With His strength and mine, we shall mow down every obstacle in my path. Flea market schmarket. I am going to get this thing over and done with and then focus on Jury 3 preparations. *picks up sword and shield and charges into battle*