Some thoughts on Nonchalence & Comparison

I was reading the cover story on TNP yesterday, with the focal point on the top JCs and their pursuit of perfection. There is an air of nonchalence of their perfect results, however, if there is one blemish to their perfect results, there will be an outburst of hysterical cries.

Personally, I hail from a heartlander JC, while my other better half sibling hails from one of the top JCs. I can see the difference clearly in how my brother looks at his results vis a vis my reaction a couple of years back. It is a far cry. I could see his nonchalence even though his results are way better off than mine.

Why this nonchalence? There was not much of a joy nor that of sadness. There was just nothing. To this group of people, it is something expected.

Are these the people who really walk in the clouds, and don't feel what the normal people feel? Are their lives really much better off? Most of them have one goal - to obtain their coveted scholarship, which eventually lands them in their dream job. For such souls, they do not seem to need to face much roadblocks in their early part of life. Most scholarships would want them. It takes away the agony of going through job selection after graduation, the stress of their parents hounding them to look for jobs quickly, the stress of having to repay their tuition fee loan and many other nitty gritties in life. Their life plan seems set the moment they obtain their scholarship.

When you have reached the top of your class, what do you pursue next? Keeping the top position, or is there more to things than as such? How do you keep your head intact to your neck?

One thing I remembered from one of those serious conversations with my brother, he said, "It doesn't matter what others do - better or worse. What matters is that you have conquered yourself. You know where is your limit, and you choose to stretch yourself beyond that. You know that you have done your best when you have conquered yourself, and that's enough (paraphrase)."

How true. When you start to compare with others, you will never be contented, and you will lose your focus. Face your giants, but do not lose your focus.