Dated: Tuesday, February 7, 2017
By Ilsa Kazi grade 10
“Not coming?! Who misses bonfire for the sake of studies?”
“ME! A SCIENCE STUDENT!” I shouted back to my friend’s message which I had received a couple of minutes ago.
My friends had planned a bonfire night and were inviting me but I had refused to join as I had to complete my biology presentation. I gazed at my piles of books and notes with an unpleasant look on my face. After an hour, I kept my laptop aside as my fingers started to pain because of the continuous typing. I rested my head on the bed and closed my eyes. It was easy to opt for science in O Levels. I had signed the subject confirmation document with a proud feeling, thinking that I was really superior to all the commerce students. I used to walk with my chin as high as it would go, fully armed to take on the world. But reality struck in one sudden painful stroke. It was a bit enjoyable in the beginning but as soon as the days merged into another, the study hours escalated, causing the nights to shrink some more. Waking up every morning was a tough ordeal for me. School was becoming a huge chaos. I would run from one class to another, catching glimpses of care free students in between. Science meant getting up at unearthly hours of Sundays, when the entire world was sleep, and studying till evening.
No doubt, science is about studying those plants which actually makes us realize that they are not that useless , as we at least exhale carbon dioxide for them. It is about solving those mole problems by calling at Avogadro’s number i.e 602-1023 (6.02×10²³). It is about learning Newton’s three laws of motion, and applying them in our daily lives. I remember once I had a confusion in the third law of motion, but it was cleared when I slapped my sister and she gave me an ‘equal and opposite reaction’ by slapping me back. But I think…
‘Ting!’ My chain of thoughts was disturbed by the ringtone of my mobile’s notification. I unlocked my mobile phone and checked it. It was our Physics teacher’s message for our group saying,
“Dear students, an extra class of Physics has been scheduled on Monday to compensate for the missed classes. Hope everyone is joining.” I sighed in disappointment and replied, “Sure I’ll join.” I threw the mobile on the bed and held my head in my hands. Then my eyes caught a glimpse of the quote framed on my room’s wall. ‘When you feel like quitting, think about why you started,’ I almost whispered while reading that quote.
‘Why I started? Because that had always been my aim. It was what I had meant to do. I couldn’t give up so easily. The struggle I was going to do today would lead to an accomplished destination tomorrow. My each step would get harder but I knew that the top view was going to be beautiful. It felt like I just couldn’t do it anymore but I needed to prove myself wrong. It was only me who was a hurdle in my success. But that’s not what’s going to happen anymore. I CAN AND I WILL!!’ An inner voice spoke inside me. With these motivational thoughts, I started my work again and this time I chose to be determined.