Monday, August 22, 2005
Freedom of speech, my ass.
I am pretty certain that my principal or some member of her posse comitatus is monitoring this blog of mine.
Now, to give you a brief idea of what occured, I am providing you with a little excerpt from the official suspension notice that was sent to my house. Here goes, "...writing derogatory remarks to defame college staff and taking photos of them using a handphone without their permission...posting derogatory remarks and photos of staff/students on a public website."
This all stems from an insider-joke within our class that got leaked out. I still do not know who ratted on us, and I honestly have no intentions of finding out either. I do not want to further trouble myself with such people. It all sounds so serious and grievious. Well, trust me. If you are one of us, you would automatically cringe at the above accusations and go, "What the fuck?", because you know that it was all a prank and that everything thing was born out of jest, fun, mischief and youthfulness. It was simply a one-time thing to relieve our ennui. Admittedly, it is not exactly civil to poke fun and make jokes at someone else's expense. And I am apologetic, well, a little.
Okay. Since my principal might be reading this and she does not like her name to be associated with filthy and distasteful stuff, lets have a little time that is dedicated to her.
My dear principal. When you stroll pass a bed of withered flowers, your resplendence causes them to instantly spring back into their full, glorious bloom.
My dear principal. When you extend your hand to pat a sickly child, he is, for that moment, blissfully relieved of all his pain and suffering.
My dear principal. When your presence is lacking in the college, the place seems so dull and is likened to a cemetery.
My dear principal. When you are at the helm, valiantly leading us to success, we are assured and are confident in your capabilities.
Oh our great principal. Oh our wonderful principal. Oh our wise principal. The college cannot function without you.
Now, lets see you try suspending me for this.
There really is no such thing as freedom of speech. Trust our great govenment to shamelessly continue to advocate it. We pride ourselves as practitioners of democracy, we proudly tell the world that all our citizens have their equal rights. We harp on being liberal. But just as you attempt to practise freedom of speech, you are immediately crushed by the system. They will cruelly suffocate you and force you into submission, into conforming to the norms of the society, to the standard lines that they have drawn for us all.
We need an outlet to voice ourselves, it is not a crime to have differing views. It is not a crime to boldly expressing them. It is such a pity that certain individuals are so narrow-minded. You are being judged by them based on a single series of actions, they fail to realise that we are multi-faceted and that there is so much more to every teenager out there.
We had this session with the principal called 'Indiscussion', if I remembered correctly. The main objective of it is for the principal and the faculty to better understand their students. To attempt to comprehend the workings of the teenage mind. Now, listen well. This sessions never work.
You can never force people to speak out, such things can never be orchestrated. The magic in expressing oneself is that it is voluntary and more or less spontaneous.
I mean, you people are always urging us to speak out, to voice our concerns and to allow the teachers into our enclosed world. Well, this whole episode with the HKL, the website and shit was a golden opportunity for the people-in-authority to get a first-person, million-dollar look into a part of the students' life. Instead of empathising and understanding our complains and ways, they chose to react with disgust and proceed to dish out punishments in accordance to their self-infused righteous anger. It is just too bad that you missed out. Never will you get such insights from feedback boxes or your 'Indiscussion' sessions. Bah.
*Every single word here originated from me. I am admitting to it now in case someone decides to once again summon me to the office, counsel, suspend and put me on probation.
I am not looking back at all this with rage. I am looking back with a detached mindset accompanied with a critical eye.
Freedom of speech, my bloody ass.
