this morning, my lactose-intolerant stomach protested against the milk i bought from the road side. after replying to a good friend’s email, i practically had to sprint to the toilet. while i was sitting on the bowl, i suddenly thought of something from a long time ago. my secondary school mission! “our mission is to nurture in cedarians a sense of purpose, responsibility, graciousness and team spirit, so as to develop our girls into mature and well-adjusted individuals in an ever-changing world.” tada! it took me all but 2 seconds to remember! it’s weird how some things remain stuck in your brains forever, and you can never forget it. i memorized this thing because the teachers came out with this mission when i was in sec 2, and my principal would “test” us during assembly time. for example, she would call out, ”sec 2/8, index no. 25”, and you were supposed to stand up and say the mission. i thought it was pretty embarrassing to not know in front of the whole standard. but it turned out that i was never called, and none of the few girls she called could say it right anyway. humph, wasted efforts, and this thing is stuck up there in my pea-brain. hurhur… you can tell i was (am) the stupid nerd in school. but this is quite a meaningful mission, don’t you think? we often do not stop to think about such things, like school mottos, songs, missions, or the national anthem and pledge. at least we go through the motion of singing or memorizing these things when we were young, but how many of us actually sang our sec school or college song? and thought about the words? we deem these things uncool in our teenage years, but i’m sure much efforts have been put into thinking and composing these things, to motivate, encourage and lead us in our life directions, so that we can always sing or say with pride. my teachers in cedar had wanted to instill in me a sense of purpose, responsibility, graciousness and team spirit. they had wanted me to become mature and well-adjusted. i am still learning how to become a better person and i hope i’ll do them proud one day. :)