The Talk.

Time for Subject Combination decision-making session. So mommy and daddy asked me which programme I would like to be in, and I told them I really wanna get into the Humanities Programme. Then, as expected, they said, "But you want to be a doctor next time!" Isn't the triple science class a better choice? 

I know it doesn't make sense, an aspiring doctor taking a Humanities course. And I'm aware of my impracticality, but you know what? People always say, 

I know I only live once. And I wanna do it right. Well that doesn't mean that I've gotta take all the right routes and make all the right choices. At the end of my life, I wanna look back and proudly say that I lived my life, had a few regrets, laughed and cried, but much more than this, I DID IT MY WAY. 

Right now, so what if I wanna take on the Humanities programme and still be a doctor in the future? I know this is too much of idealism, being able to juggle all the work, but you see, what if this is the way I want it to be? I mean you never know if you never try. 

Mommy and daddy always told me to be who I am, but now, you are contradicting yourselves. Y'all are good people, I know, and I know too, that you want the best for me, but I want to tell you, 

Mommy, Daddy, 

the best thing that you can do for me, 

is to let me do what I want,

even if it's not the best way to get to where I want to be. 

Cuz only then, 

will I look back and 

thank you for what you did. 

Maybe you guys don't want me to fall, maybe you guys want me to get to the top ASAP, or maybe you guys just don't want me to be worn out. But see, you guys changed routes too. Mommy, you were once working in the TV industry in Hong Kong, being in the spotlight of every night's news. Daddy, you said when you were in university, you wanted to be a computer scientist. But look at y'all now, not doing what you intended to do, but still doing ever so well, being head of department in a top secondary school and president in a specialised school in university... 

You see, all roads lead to Rome. It doesn't mean that if I take on what I like now, I won't be able to do what I want to do in the future... I don't know how, but I know that someday, I'll get there. And I'm not saying that I wanna fail and give up, nor am I saying that I want to waste my time and energy before getting what I really want, but what I'm trying to tell y'all is that I wanna experience this whole thing by myself, not by listening to how you both fought through university and debated with Granny and Grandpa about your future careers... 

So in the end, we left this matter unresolved. But you guys were nice people, like I always knew you two as. And y'all told me to find out more about the curriculum of both programmes, and then we'll talk again. So thank you for giving me space and freedom. I think other parents may not have done the same. 

But please, although you will never read this, and I don't want you to ever read it, please, let me find myself by myself, and let me create who I am with my own hands...