And so we lost.

Dear Readers,

after watching the St Andrews-RI hockey match today, tkwek wrote the following piece on his emotions after the loss. Watching the match was fun though, especially with a hyperactive Naishad, a scandalous Yong Xin and an enthusiastic (understatement) shaun sitting around him. And of course, the MYSTERIOUS call :) - i've guessed!

On a side note, go watch SNYO concert!! i know this is a bit late, but here goes: Thursday March 27th, tickets from SISTIC, 8pm, VCH. Tchaik 5th Symphony, Haydn Trumpet Concerto, Shostakovich Festive Overture! hope to see you there!

Let's go, Raffles, Let's Go.
The Straight Times Editor

And so we lost.

The numbers two and three, a mere difference of the smallest square, landed the biggest thump on Rafflesians today at the National ‘B’ Division Hockey finals.

It was a tough battle. Andrews versus Raffles. Saints versus Hope. A sea of Black-and-white horizontally-striped t-shirts versus a mere three classes of neatly uniformed Rafflesians, accompanied by half the Prefectorial Board, decked in green, the only other colour of the Rafflesian trinity that wasn’t used on our opponents’ shirts.

I happened to be among those few prefects who were there today, and I count it as an honour rather than a duty that I have done. Filling in the Prefectorial Dossier with my list of commitments to the board? I could have done that with perhaps any other event. Being among the supporters to team Raffles, watching them slip and shoot, hide and strike, pulsate with the power of the midday sun? Priceless.

Oh yes. Tougher matches had been fought. Harder battles had been played. But this one was special to me because it brought me face to face with a raw realization of what seniors mysteriously – and sometimes shamelessly – brand the Rafflesian Spirit. Blaring out spontaneous cheers, round after round. Giving a standing ovation when a fallen warrior, injured and spent, was being led off the field. Cheering and thanking the team even after the fateful results. Walking through the grandstand, as our sacred cheer describes, in ‘pride and fame’ because losing one battle means no fear or pain.

We lost – the ironically plain numbers on the black-and-white board said so. But somehow I think, there was an indeterminable victory to us, to the school. How often is it, in our homework-piled, CCA-choked lives that the passion and red-hot drive courses through our veins again, making us alive even in the evaporative heat of three-o’clock Singapore, and pushes both sportsmen and supporters alike to their limits, whether in the physical or mental realm. Stress. Pressure. Expectations. Hope for a better score. Let’s face it. Today was one of the few times that we, representing the school, pulled our voices together and cheered for a common cause.

So what if it failed. The journey carries more weight than the end. And now that we've proven that we can cheer with one voice, let that voice sing to greater heights.

Bravo to the hockey boys.

This Friday, during morning assembly, the results will probably be announced. To the rest of the school, it will seem like just another loss. “Raffles is deproving.” “Raffles can’t keep it’s sporting standard.” “Raffles used to be so much better.” Yes, these murmurs will fill our ears. And maybe, if we let them, they may filter to our minds, and our hearts.

But for those who were there on that day, you know better.

symphony or cacophony - which is my life?