Stopped by a security guard

Asked me what course I'm doing. When he heard TESL, he said, that's good, just don't go be like Adam Adli. I thought, ah, not another 'young people should stay out of politics' speech. 

But then he explained...He had to quit his studies to fight the communists. Never managed to continue it. He seemed genuinely interested in modern technology, but he said he can't keep up anymore. So don't throw away your future, he advised. Finish your degree, then go and 'fight' if you want. 

I wonder how many others have lost the opportunity to further their academic pursuit because of war, disaster, inequality, poverty. Of course success is relative and certainly not defined by a degree. Is it 'throwing away your future' or 'taking a stand'? That's up to the individual to decide. But I think we should be thankful that we are free to choose in the first place. We wanted to go to uni, and we got to. Some wanted to, but never had that chance. 

I'm not saying be thankful and then turn a blind eye on wrongdoing though. It's more like, be thankful, and then try to pay it forward. 

p/s: i HATE short blogposts!!!! i feel so bad writing such a lil piece. but i said i would stop trying to edit myself all the time, right? so this is it. i'm also trying to not clog my facebook with long statuses.