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of interest in a particular work, the assumption that we will fail in our tasks without even initiating them in the first place, the unwillingness to take up such roles which we are forced to take up and many more. On the other hand, regardless of how limited is time which might affect us from doing something we like, by all means we will find ways to the very end to complete those work first that naturally kicks the habit away.
On the other hand, although highly rare and unappreciated by many, procrastination would be subsequently save us from further troubles such as a certain task that we will be doing is bound to fail, and we know that such an outcome will prevail, thus find excuses not to complete or to delay these work until we run out of choices, saving us from getting into trouble in the process. However, procrastination is being seen by many, including our textbooks that is a bad habit that should be eliminated in which perhaps in the process of saving ourselves from troubles for those who would be in trouble such as our bosses who have entrusted such responsibilities to us which we will never complete in time, thus the negative perception towards procrastination seems to outnumber the so-called positive side of it.
Procrastination will not only land us into troubles, but it would further damage our already tainted reputation of being someone who we hope that we should be. However, it seems to go the other way whenever we procrastinate. It would also bring uneasiness towards the people around us especially our classmates or colleagues who might have to share responsibilities with us. They will definitely have second thoughts whenever they are about to give us a task due to our damaged track record. This would lead to people attempting to distance themselves from us so that they could find someone else who holds a better reputation in keeping procrastination minimal or to avoid it altogether. We will very soon find ourselves in a situation that no one ever wants to be in-the loss of hope, trust, faith and dignity, all because of the foolish and stubborn act of procrastination kicks in or one would regret it.
The journey towards fully wiping out procrastination seems to be tough or perhaps we might not even reach the finish line. As long as human nature is concerned, this seems unlikely, but we could minimize the risks of procrastinating and keeping chances this personal habit simply because I see myself as someone who has the potential to be someone better without procrastination as the dirtiest dirt in my life. It could be the most drastic change I would ever make in my life if procrastination is nowhere to be found.
SenIOr CaTeGOry 1ST PrIZe
CLAReNCe CHeONG CHIeW HONG (5K)
I’Ve dOne SOmeTHInG nO One HaS dOne beFOre
I’ve done something no one has ever done before. Something that no one has even attempted. Something that even the bravest of souls dare not fathom. I had begun to feel. At first, I thought it was simply a glitch in my system’s programming, nothing a quick visit to The
Doc can’t fix. As time passed, this glitch kept recurring, each one more frequent than the last. That was when I started to suspect that there is a major malfunction in my mainframe. I should have reported this to the authorities, as stated in the Law. However, I didn’t. I am fully aware that it made me a felon but I just couldn’t bring myself to, there was something so beautiful about, well, feelings. I’m not really sure what exactly it was that I was feeling but ever since this strange blooming sensation started radiating from within my chest, I seemed to see the world in colors that I had been blind to before.
But how could this be? All my life I’ve been told that having feelings was the single worst trait to have ever existed in humans, that it was a flaw which led to the self-destruction of the human race, our predecessors, millions of years ago. I was told that the effects of feelings were so severe that the Founders, who survived the War, had developed the first ever Software to extract and replace human feelings with a programmable complex, turning people into the Voids that have inhabited earth ever since. To feel is the single greatest crime one could commit, this was the first lesson everyone had to learn in their first year of school – it was practically drilled into our brains by every teacher. Have we been lied to all these years, generation after generation? Why is it a crime to feel? How did having feelings cause the entire world to collapse on itself, as we have been taught? These questions floated around in my mind with every passing day, remaining unanswered.
However, maintaining this secret proved to be harder than I had anticipated. It had only been two weeks since I made the decision to keep my feelings to myself but I was already finding it challenging to match my expression to the blank faces around me, on the streets, in restaurants. I’ve been developing many different side-effects from my feelings, many of which compel me to exercise muscles on my face that I never knew existed to alter my expressions. It is very interesting indeed, I thought to myself as I examine my reflection in the mirror, whose right eyebrow seems to twitch upwards in an arch while the left one seems to have flattened into a straight line. Strangely, I started feeling a tingly, ticklish sensation building up in my abdominal region and I let out a hearty, unusual noise that sounded like a combination of a cough and a snort. I don’t know what it was but I definitely enjoyed it.
Suddenly, I heard a loud bang which came from my living room – silencing me. Moments later, a thundering, nasal voice boomed, “This is the police, open up or we will be forced to break down your door”. At that, I got up from my dresser and tentatively walked towards the living room, praying that they didn’t hear the sounds I made a few minutes ago. After a quick glance into the looking hole, I opened the door to three policemen standing a couple of feet away. Stay calm, they were just here for their routine spot-checks, I tried convincing myself while unfastening the lock. I was wrong. The second I opened the door I was unceremoniously greeted with a blow to the gut and I instantly collapsed on the floor, my body convulsing. I didn’t notice they were armed but as I fell I caught a glimpse of a baton in the hand of the tallest policeman. As I struggled to catch my breath, the other two policemen started to handcuff me while the brute with the baton stood guard, keeping a watchful eye on me even though it’s pretty obvious that I was in no shape to escape. A sack was placed over my head. I felt a pang of pain on the back of my head and everything went dark.
When I woke up, with a throbbing headache, I was in a room with walls made of some sort of grey, ancient-looking material, probably stone. The room was freezing cold and smelled like mold and mildew. My arms and legs were strapped to a metal chair and attached to the chair were wires of different colors. I have never seen this kind of set up for an interrogation before. A million thoughts raced through my mind and panic rose in my chest. I snapped out of my dazed confusion when I realized there was a man sitting in front of me, separated by a small desk. He looked young, probably in his teens but the depth of his eyes betrayed his youthful image for anyone could tell that those were the eyes of someone who had lived through a war. When he spoke, his voice was quiet and his tone gentle but there is no mistaking the menace in his words as he explained in detail that the process I was about to undergo was going to be long and very, very painful. He added that I will not survive it. He took one last patronizing look at me and proceeded to flip a switch in his hand that I hadn’t noticed. The last thing I remember were m screams of agony as I faded into oblivion.
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