(Some basic language errors corrected. Not that there are many heheheheheh.)
Sec 3 End Of Year 23/30
When I saw the glimmer of its red eyes rounding the corner, I knew that the dragon had found me. I knew that I was done for. The dragon stalked closer and closer, so close that I could feel the heat radiating off its thorny scales, so close that I could smell its musty breath. I cowered in my corner, trying to make myself as small as I possibly could, trying to make myself as invisible as I usually felt. The dragon towered over me and spat, "You little coward!" He took out his phone with his claws and called his friends, all the while keeping one red eye on me. "Yes, he's here," the dragon growled, "Come here and we can beat him up." I winced at the memory of all the other times this had happened. "Why me?" I thought, as I watched the other dragons make their way towards me, "It isn't fair!"
So they beat me up. I was in Primary 3 back then, and I was a quiet student, always sitting at the back of the class, just being alone and enjoying my own company. I had never been lonely, I disliked being around other people. During recesses, I would be sitting by myself just happily flipping through the pages of a book and enjoying its papery scent. Until they found me.
I was reading Charlotte's Web in a corner of the school library when three students from Primary 6 walked in. Their red eyes scanned through the place like they were looking for something, and maybe they were. They were looking for a new victim to play with. That was when they spotted me, when my book slipped out of my hands and hit the cold tiled floor with a loud "plonk!". I bent down to pick it up, and when I looked up, the fiery eyes of the three dragons were on me. Sharp teeth showed as they grinned at each other and walked away. I did not think much of the experience at first, and dismissed it, throwing myself back into my book.
Every recess after that, I spent in fear and pain, as I ran around the school, frantically trying to dodge the dragons. Somehow, they always managed to locate me, and when they did, they would punch me in the stomach and my scrawny, skinny frame would shake in terror and pain, even during the weekends. I was so scared to come to school, I would feign illness just to stay at home. I told no one, and no one ever suspected anything. I was always quiet, after all.
I had nightmares about them, and sometimes I would wake up drenched in icy sweat, shuddering in the darkness. I thought that if I just took their hits, they would get bored and go away. I had never been more wrong.
The dragons did get bored, but they did not go away like I thought they would. One day, as usual, they stomped towards me. I braced myself for the torrent of blows that were to follow. Instead, I saw the bright yellow flame one of them held. It was a lighter. It was coming towards me. The dragons were using fire. They wanted to burn me. I decided then and there, that I had enough of their bullying.
"Stop it," I said, my voice surprisingly strong. I could tell that the dragons were surprised too, but they recovered quickly and sneered at me. "Or else what?" one of them asked. Raising my head up high, I told them, "I will tell the principal." They put away the flame and glanced at each other. After that day, they never bothered me again.
I had no idea why I had not done that sooner. It was ridiculous, how easy it had been to stop them. From that experience, I learnt to stand up for myself. I would not let myself be bullied again. After that, when I saw the dragons in school, I would not run and hide like I used to. After all, they say and I agree, bullies are the real cowards.
Sec 4 Common Test 18/30
Competitive sports, paradoxically, bring out the best, as well as the worst, in people. Where they encourage people to strive for the goal, they also encourage people to try to bypass the system and cheat. Where they encourage the bonding of teammates in team sports, they also tear down the relationships between the teammates when even one person feels like another is to blame for a loss. Essentially, competitive sports are sports at which people want to win at their particular sport, and where people want to stand proud at the top of the podium, simply because being the winner means that they are the best at that sport.
During the weeks leading up to the national basketball competition, my school's basketball team trained intensively. They had basketball practice up to eight hours a week, not counting the time they spent during recess or after school playing basketball, practising their dribbling, passing and shooting. All that effort was put in simply to increase their chances at beating the other schools in basketball, so that they could claim the title of "Champion" as a team. Competitive sports such as basketball can bring out the best effort in people, where players make their winning shots in the last few frantic seconds of playtime. It is when people are at their peak, and the prospect of winning motivates them further.
However, on the flip side of things, some athletes choose to take the easy way out. They employ subtle but effective back-handed tactics to cheat, undetected by the referees. Some runners in the Olympics take steroids and other drugs to improve their performances. These cheap methods of obtaining the end-goal happen because of the overpowering desire to win at competitive sports. Thus, competitive sports bring out the worst in people who do not put in the effort and the blood, sweat and tears to win by their own merit, yet also do not have the moral courage to lose gracefully.
Most people would do anything and everything to win, especially at competitive sports. It is where they draw the line between what they should and should not do that determines the values that they display. With good sportsmanship, competitive sports will bring out the best in people. One should accept defeat gracefully and not blame each other for any mistakes that occur. However, for people who have weak morals, the idea of competitive sports will cause them to bribe and cheat. Therefore, competitive sports bring out both the best and worst in people, depending on their attitudes towards them.
Sec 4 Preliminary 25/30
As in the national day song of 2015, "It isn't easy building something out of nothing.", Singapore has indeed progressed quickly, but not without hardships, from tiny mudflats to a busting metropolis. Singapore has many great achievements, such as a renowned education system, an intricately-designed transport system, and even a famous "food mascot", the Singapore Chilli Crab. However, none of these achievements can compare to how people of different races, ethnics and backgrounds can live together peacefully in this country. Singapore's greatest achievement is racial harmony.
Living as a half-Chinese in Singapore, I have never had to worry if I would fit in, or if I would be able to make friends, just because I was of a different race from everyone else. In Singapore, whether a person was Chinese, Malay, Indian, anything else else or anything in between, he would be treated the same, and would be respected as a person. It is important for Singapore to be racially harmonious, as Singapore comprises of many different races. If there was a lack of mutual respect between the races, there would be racial riots, fighting and chaos in the country.
In fact, Singapore has gone a step ahead of mere racial tolerance. In Singapore, we can embrace the fact that we are of different races and celebrate by exchanging traditional costumes on racial harmony day each year. Last year, on racial harmony day, I remember borrowing an Indian friend's sari and taking part in an event organised by my neighbourhood community centre to learn more about each culture in Singapore. It was an enlightening experience for me.
However, it was not until this year when I truly learnt to appreciate racial harmony in Singapore. I visited Beijing, China for a vacation recently, and to my horror, even thought I could speak Mandarin, the local Chinese insulted me for being only half-Chinese. They also mocked my South-East Asian accent. Throughout the trip, I reflected deeply on how fellow Singaporeans rarely judge people on the basis of race or religion, save for a few cases. However, because of that trip, I realised not to take the racial harmony in Singapore for granted.
There are still many cases of racial intolerance in the world today, such as the racial bias against African Americans in the United States, or the ban against the female Muslim headgear and veil in part of Europe such as Switzerland. Due to racial injustice, people protested and fought for their rights, causing disharmony, and sometimes, major disruptions in the countries' development.
Surely, Singapore was not always perfect, with the Maria Hertogh riots and other racial riots in the past. Singapore is still not perfect, with the occasional "Amy Cheong"s popping up on the media. However, as a small city-state, we have achieved a lot in terms of the social cohesion between Singapore's different races, even more other highly prominent countries in the world. This achievement means a lot to me, as it is the only way we can truly embrace each other and live peacefully. One people, one nation, one Singapore.