A walk into remembrance

This Photo Story was made to show that sometimes, even the worst of enemies can be the best of friends, even if it's just to take a picture together.

I could easily say there's a degree of humanity left in all of us.

Most of us, if not all of us back there, were ready to mix regardless of ethnicity and background. I know most Malaysians, if not all, would do the same.

But what I truly want to point out is that a few of the people you see in this Photo Story were rivals of mine once. They did everything they could to bring me down. And how I suffered ! Yet, for those few golden moments of truth, they decided to walk together with me, hand in hand.
I wanted to point out that sometimes, the worst of enemies can redeem themselves and become the best of friends.

The pictures you see in this Photo Story were not of any particular category. They were just taken "for the memories", I'd say. Whenever I had my phone with me, I would take pictures of my friends. I did this with the hopes that someday I'd be able to share this with you and say "See, these are among the people who have become part of my wonderful story" - and I'm doing it today. Not only did I take pictures of my friends and teachers, I also gathered pictures from my friends' and teachers' phones and cameras. Then when the time came for me to transfer all these pix, I put them under a folder Visages, meaning "faces".

The faces of National Service 6 Series Group 3.
The faces of solidarity and unity.

I know, this particular Photo Story paints an idealistic picture of what National Service really is. It does not come with the grit and the suffering of standing up for what you want to defend, and who you want to be. But sometimes, we have to cherish these sweet memories - the ones that give us hope against all hope. After all, in the words of Yunalesca in Final Fantasy X, hope is comforting.

If the advertisements for National Service paint a pretty rose-tinted picture of the youth emerging as heroes and heroines, the actual situation is somewhat reverse, especially if you happen to be in the third batch, because this time they did not select amongst school leavers. But the smiles on the trainees' faces whenever they meet their friends, whenever they are among their favourite group, whenever their companies win a competition... these are the smiles that can pierce through the gloom and darkness of National Service.