I can distinctively remember the days before school starts, I would gather my half used pencils, half of a new pack of bound papers, a notebook or two and some second-hand or giveaway books. Not that it really mattered if I had new things or not, for me, it was a new year of learning, of filling up my bank of education knowing that this is my only passport of success, the only way I can get out of poverty and mediocrity.
And today, as we get ready for another school year, we started the day by cuddling in bed, and telling him that education is important. I tell him to enjoy everyday in school and to make sure that he learns something new, whether big or small, whether from the teacher or classmates, and even from school itself. I took out his school supplies we ordered from Wooldridges and went through them all, 10 new notebooks, 8 new glue sticks, 10 new pencils, 4 new rubbers, 2 new packs of coloured pens and pencils, 1 new pack of textas and 1 new ruler. Also we unpack his new school bag and new lunch box. Although the difference between him and me are the new things, I hope that the lesson of education will be the same, that he will come out at the other end thankful for his education.
I still remember that I have to make do of the second-hand and hand-me-down school supplies because then that time my mother can’t afford to buy my brother and I new things. He gets the new things while I get the hand-me-downs and his old things. And today, even though Tara is not going to school yet, she gets a new lunch box just like her brother’s, simply because now I can.
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