When you get into university, you’ll realize there are generally three types of classes.
Classes you enjoy a lot.
Classes you enjoy very little.
Classes you think you would enjoy, but the lecturers make them unenjoyable.
You get what I mean.
Although I’d love to talk about an especially relevant incident, I thought twice and decided not to. After all, I’m #sponsored to study, though I doubt the higher-ups would mind it. They don’t even read what I write here.
But, there is one story dating back to my days in secondary school. That’s too long ago for anyone to feel offended by it and sue the coconut out of me. So, here we go.
⏳️ A history of the History
I still remember my first History teacher back in upper secondary school. He was a chad who made our days learning this boring subject fun. Here are some of his favourite lines,
Cantik macam bunga = beautiful like a flower
Panggil marilah = call you then come lah
It’s hard to explain why they were funny unless you’re fluent in Malaysian slang and were there when he said them. Also, what made his lessons enjoyable was the way he combined teaching with comedy — he told jokes with a sprinkle of (dark) reality.
Unconventional, but it worked.
That is why, when he transferred away, we realized how blessed we had been. His replacement brought with him old-fashioned ways of teaching:
PowerPoint slides,
reading word-for-word from the slides,
saying a few words as if he was explaining,
telling us to copy down notes from his slides, and
hoping that the information he threw at us would stick.
Typical, hence it didn’t work.
After some time, people knew he wasn’t helpful. I remember my class monitor often went somewhere else to chat with our class teacher to escape the boring lessons. Yeah, that was how bad it was.
And me?
I doubt I ever listened. In fact, I’d always known my way of learning History — read the official textbook (exam questions come from here) then do the past papers. Hence, I usually spent his lessons reading the textbook.
One day, when others were copying “notes” from his PowerPoint slides, he noticed I wasn’t doing it. That was when he approached me to question my “disobedience” by reading the textbook.
Of course, I explained that this was how I learned best. He probably interpreted it as “I learn better not using your method”. Hence, he was still mad and asked for my recent SPM History trial result to — perhaps — put me down if I had a low score.
Guess what?
I got 90%.
To this day, I still can’t forget how funny he reacted after that. But, beyond this story-worthy moment of my life, I figured there was something you and I could learn from.
🪴 A lesson you won’t regret learning
At some point, you’ll meet people you don’t like. Sometimes, it’s your fault. But, other times, it’s just them. You don’t understand why they could be this rude, grumpy, and selfish even when you didn’t do anything (seriously) bad.
And oftentimes, you would tend to take it personally — you may ask yourself, “What is wrong with me?” rather than “What is wrong with them?”, albeit subconsciously. That doesn’t feel good.
Earlier this year, I watched one of Zach Highley’s videos — How I Rescued My 20s — and learned something that changed the game for me. Here’s the line.
If you are willing to look at another person's behavior toward you as a reflection of the state of their relationship with themselves rather than a statement about your value as a person, then you will, over a period of time cease to react at all.
—Yogi Bhalan
I’m gonna let that sink in for a bit.
Ever since then, I’ve found myself rethinking the grudges I hold against some people and the words they said. In situations when I didn’t do anything (seriously) wrong, I felt so much better because of that understanding.
Also, I remember hearing about this 👇️ many years ago,
No matter how much you hate some people, remember that they could never run away from being them.
Most people you meet in life won’t stick with you all day. You might just have to interact with them for a few hours per day at most. Yeah, it feels unbearable. However, if you think about the fact that they have to stay with themselves and their terrible attitudes forever, don’t you feel a little bit better?
For that History teacher I had, I felt the same way — less hatred, more sympathy.
Have a cookie 🍪
—Thomas
🥇 Weekly Gold
Each week, I share one thing I found interesting with you. It could be a song, a book, a quote, or a YouTube video that blew my mind.
Here’s the gold this week 👇
This blew my mind. Being a creator/entrepreneur has never been about shipping one “perfect” product. You can only improve as you learn and experience more by launching more. What a great reminder.
Credit: Cover photo by Rishabh Dharmani on Unsplash