It’s that time again when I start contemplating my future – university and later, the working world. I was looking forward to going to university for the most part in BMT, as I thought that school, even with the panoply of tests, assignments and projects, would be better than being in serfdom under the tyranny of unreasonable sergeants. I was utterly wrong. As my friends in university can attest to, university isn’t the land of sex, booze and rock and roll as many American films love to portray, but a place of work, work and more work than one can possibly imagine even after undergoing the rigors of the Singapore education system for 12 years. School seems so daunting now.

Perhaps, working life would be better? The empowerment that comes with financial independence (from our parents at least) would certainly be a prospect anyone would relish. But as with every benefit, there is a price to pay. The workload aside, there would be an assortment of problems: backstabbing colleagues, unreasonable bosses (heaven knows how many balls I’ve to suck to make them reasonable), bills and loans. It’s a scary world out there. As much as I relish the challenge to go fight in this dog-eat-dog world, it’s only because it’s a Hobson’s choice, and it’s better to be more positive about it. Given a viable alternative, I’d rather not.

Sigh…I really miss the days of childhood when everything was so much simpler – no politics and no pecuniary worries. The only big worry I had was exams, and at least that is a problem minimally affected by external agents. Alas, I can no longer hide behind the shield of blissful ignorance. Growing up is painful.
Perhaps, this reluctance to embrace the working world is because of my pampered childhood. If I’d grown up in the slums of Calcutta where the weak are dearly disadvantaged, I would be more eager about growing up and removing my fragilities as a child.

Oh well, I still have a little over a year left to serve for NS, and as much as I whine and moan about the shortcomings of the army, it is actually a safe haven from the harshness of the real world. I guess I better enjoy it while it still lasts.