It has been a while since I titled my post. And this one will be titled - Courage.

Courage. Through our lives, we have been constantly shaping and redefining its meaning. In our childhood, perhaps our parents were our heroes. They were the ones with the courage, for they seemed to know everything, and could protect us from anything possible. Then we entered kindergarten and primary school, setting foot on the path of education. Once again, our definition was editted. The uncles and aunties in uniforms seemed to be the courageous ones now, for they upheld justice and helped others. First ambitions came. I wanted to be a fireman. For it was a symbol of courage, dashing into burning buildings to save lives.

We all grow up. And soon I realised that in Singapore, the firefighting scene wasnt as exciting as the television had depicted. And once again, my opinion of courage was altered. I realised that courage came in all forms and types, and it always arose when it was needed. When 911 occured, many courageous people came forth to help. Similarly, when the Nicoll Highway collapsed much nearer to home, there were people who put their lives on the line to help people totally unrelated to them. And so I realised there was only one possibility, everybody has courage within them.

Everyone has latent courage. We were that courageous sperm who fought and won out of the many million other sperms, and we finally fertilised that egg. In fact, it takes courage just to wake up everyday, to fight the challenges that we face everyday. We have matured to fight even greater challenges and have come thus far, we have become more courageous by the day. For courage is strength, and we are growing stronger.

Come this November, many of my friends and peers will face one of the greatest challenge in our lives so far. It is inevitable to be scared. There will definitely be an inexorable quiver as we approach what we have never tried before, especially since this novelty will decide our fate. I was scared out of bed this morning. For I slept away the whole evening when I was supposed to get up to revise for a few more hours. I slept through till this morning. And I realised I had only two mere days more to go, about one now. Everyone will be afraid.

It is indeed a test of our strength, a test of our courage. Can we handle the stress? Can we handle our own crazy thoughts? Can we really do the A levels? At this point of time, it is really time to draw on our courage, and say yes. Yes to all. If we look back upon our lives, we have overcome obstacle after obstacle. And we have grown much stronger. Soon, this obstacle will be like those in our memories. We just have to believe, and we can do it.

I heard a line from a song yesterday, High by Lighthouse Family. It goes like this.

When you re close to tears remember
Some day it will all be over
One day we re gonna get so high
And though its darker than December
Whats ahead is a different colour
One day we re gonna get so high

And at the end of the day
We ll remember the days
We were close to the edge
And well wonder how we made it through
And at the end of the day
We ll remember the way
We stayed so close to till the end
We ll remember it was me and you

So my friends, do not give up. Not now, not ever. It is at times like this when we should even be stronger. Remember you are never in this alone. Lets fight this together.

To all the people out there I know taking the A levels, especially those who I have been working hard with day in day out for the past weeks, all the best for the final journey. Believe in yourselves, we all know we can do it. See you at the end of the tunnel.

You have the courage.