Farewell dear David. . . alas, we never knew you.

Well, it is official, one person has been dropped from the program because of shoddy attendance. Usually at the end of Block 4 (Term 1) , some students are invited to leave due poor attitude or shoddy attendance. So, one must be working extraordinarily hard to be given the boot early.

Here are my thoughts on David's departure. David was a nice enough classmate. He never caused a ruckus or was unkind, but you could tell he did not want to be in the kitchen. There was no fire in his belly and he seemed pretty lost. David is only 18 and I imagine that there was some sort of insistence that he attend a post secondary establishment. I suppose cook was a real come down for his parents as it did not fall into the three generally, approved professions for good Asian children: doctor, pharmacist, and accountant.

I feel sad for David. He clearly was not doing what he loves. I don't think he knows what he loves yet. This is a situation I have seen many of my highschool students in. Over my eight years at Britannia, I would have conversations with young men and women (who were almost always Chinese) who wanted that one year off because they didn't know what they wanted. Or, they wanted to go into Fine Arts or Humanities and they were in despair because their parents felt that only in Science or Business would they find a job that would make them a lot of money. Inevitably, they would follow a path that was not their own and fail miserably. And then they would follow the same path again or drop out completely.

It is a sad state of affairs. There are so many young boys and girls who I've seen grow up and stop singing, painting, acting, and laughing because they need to find the perfect job and make enough money to make their families proud. Or on the converse side, they pursue no education, training, or self improvement because they feel they are destined to be famous. In the end, such young people end up squandering their lives working in menial jobs and focusing on vacuous pursuits such as beauty and being fashionable. I am not advocating the reckless abandonment of one's responsibility to be a contributing member of society, but I feel that many people discard their creative potential in favour of becoming cookie cutter consumers. And this is done with no consciousness.

In the end, I hope David finds something he really loves. I hope it isn't fast cars, Ed Hardy T's, and clubbing. I hope he ends up being something great.