It never ceases to astound me how forgetful and unappreciative we can be when we go our merry way and not give a damn about what’s happening around us.

It is a tragic human attribute – one of remorse, fear and sudden affection of what we still have, that triggers itself in circumstances that are far from ideal. It is only when we are at our most vulnerable, scared, and shaken. When we hear of some bad news that really just stops your world and the people moving around in it – when something happens that numbs your mind for an instant. Why must it take such incidents for us to really value what we have?

It’s like something I learnt about financial markets in my lectures. When bad news happens at x%, the market crashes and everyone panics. Share prices plunge and everyone despairs immediately. But when good news occurs at x%, the market underreacts, there is no real movement. This is highly irrational, given what happened with the same proportion of bad news.

The most infuriating thing is, everytime it happens and you stop suddenly and appreciate everything around you, it only takes a little while to forget it ever happened, and you’re back in the old routine. Well, at least I am. I need to learn to appreciate so much more. There are so, so many people around me who have had it so much incredibly harder than I have – and here I am, complaining about some essay that needs to be written next week. I think everybody would gladly sit down at a computer and type out a few thousands words, if it meant they could regain a loved one.

So who am I to complain?
Fortunately, I’ve gotten much better, and I try to complain less nowadays. There are just some things that really aren’t all that important. I mean, there are some people praying for a footballer’s foot to heal, so that they can play in the World Cup! I suppose if anything, it is a harmless diversion for people, gossiping, playing, speculating, complaining, so that they can get away from mundane life. But I hope not so much so that they start taking it for granted. People should start to take a few time-outs and realise that an uneventful life is a happy one compared to so many others. And thats not even taking into account the millions around the world who are starving, diseased, or abused… I suppose its not within the capacity of the human emotional framework to be able to endure and take it all in. Both a shame and a blessing. Shame because these things need attention, blessing because, I suppose to witness so much pain would be intolerable to one single mind.

I had my last ever lecture today. Was a bit strange, a bit weird. I walked around the campus in the afternoon, and it was a sunny, lazy looking Friday. People were sprawled on the grass by the lake, cooking barbeques and drinking beers. T-shirts, shorts and bad sunburns were everywhere. And I felt a little bit sad, but at least a little appreciative of what I had in front of me. In fact, I was appreciative that i was sad, it means that even if its a little late in the day, i’m trying not to take things for granted. Even as I leave university, I simply couldn’t ask for anything else.