As you start to encounter more people, it gets harder to watch everything you say or do, easier to give the wrong impression, and wrong information travels faster than anything else. You can’t talk to every single person, you can’t smile 24/7, and sooner or later, somebody who doesn’t deserve it is going to catch you at your worst and get the wrong idea.

It’s frustrating but it’s the price you got to pay. The President of the United States is who he is because more than half his country voted for him, yet he often seems like the most hated man in the world. The bigger the responsibility, the harder you fall.

It’s scary. It’s tempting, it’s alluring, it’s everything you want, but at the same time it’s scary. Who wants to be hated by so many people? Just for the chance to try and make a difference?

But at the end of it all, what really matters is what those really close to you think. What the people who really matter, who really know you, have to say. Who cares what strangers on the street think? They don’t know you.

It’s not so scary when you have a stronghold to turn to, people who know you, trust you, believe in you and will fuck you up when you’ve done wrong.

Adnin, Boon, Bib, Po Liang, Jeannette, Naomi, Chris, Matthew, Fran, JS, Si Ying, Zach, Kah Siong, Zain, Nick Hui, Jo, and the rest of you guys, you know who you are. People who aren’t around so much anymore but still matter, like Mariam and Lakshman. People who I’ve just met, like Lily and Amaliah. Thank you, for being there, and for making my life special. And for giving me the guts to chase my dreams.

I hope and I swear that no matter what happens, I will never lose track of you guys, because that’s what really matters in the end.

And to the casual readers- don’t be quick to judge anybody. It’s not a pleasant thing to do. =)