I had attended a talk on one of Hwa Chong Institutions' recent publications. This book is titled "Towerhill Reclaimed", and it is a collation of the works of our seniors a few years ago. This book was originally named, "Parnassus", which is the hilltop home of Greek Muses, and the home of music, poetry, learning. However, as the seniors felt that people might be unable to understand the meaning of this title, they rejected the name and chose to use "Towerhill Reclaimed" as the title. The front cover of the book is black and white, and there was a person with a clock in his body and carrying a sword. The clock represents the present, past and future. Since this book is a collation of the works of seniors of the past, which was just published, and might benefit people in future, I feel that it is a smart move to place that picture on the cover page. Also, I feel that both the clock and the title represents Hwa Chong Institution as Hwa Chong Institution is located on high ground, and has a clock tower. Therefore, I feel that one of the reasons for the title and the picture on the front cover might be to recognise Hwa Chong Institution in the production of this book.
This book is split into two parts. The first section is mainly about culture and tradition. However, the second part is mainly about progressing towards the future. The editors explained that they wanted to create a natural progression from the past to present. This also had a link with the "clock" in the cover page. The hands of the clock always move clockwise, and with every movement of the clock, we are moving into another second into the future. Similarly, with every movement of the hands on the clock, the present had turned into the past, and it becomes history. As a person progresses, he needs to look at his past to know if his actions were beneficial or not, and improve on his actions. When a true learner looks backs, he would have found out how badly he had done last time, as he had already improved tremendously from his past mistakes.
There is another thing about this book that made it so meaningful. That is, the book was published the same day as the Japanese natural disaster. Each book cost ten dollars, and all the money collected will be sent to Japan to help out those that are affected by the disaster. This also shows that hwa chong boys write books not so much for the money, but write for the art of literature, and that hwa chong boys are willing to help out those that are in need without people asking or reminding them to help out.
I feel that in a writer's life, publishing a book is an obstacle that might hinder his further success. If the book is very successful, and the writer receives praises from a lot of people, he must control his emotions and not be proud and arrogant, as it might lead to complacency. As all human beings have feelings and emotions, it is very hard to tell ourselves to be humble and treat this success as a learning process, but it is extremely easy for us to just treat this success as a recognition and be complacent. As a result, being humble despite a huge success is very difficult, but once we overcome our complacency and proudness, we will be able to improve in an amazing rate. If the book is not successful, the writer might be laughed or mocked at, and if he does not have courage to face this mistake, and take this as a learning process, he might be demoralised and depressed. Also, the writer might lose interest in writing as he might take it that writing is only a source of embarrassment. Therefore, in order for a writer to be successful, he needs to have courage to face his mistake and turn to a positive mindset, which is to treat the remarks by others as stepping stones for success. It is only when a writer possesses both humbleness and courage, will he succeed in his writing career.
This was a very fruitful talk and I have benefited greatly from this experience. I feel that my investment of 30-40min in this talk is indeed worthwhile, and I hope to be able to be exposed to more of such wonderful and meaningful learning experience in the future!
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