How much more am I, Hwa Chongian of 2011, likely to touch other people's lives?

Title paraphrased from a rhetorical question from J. K. Rowling's speech to Harvard graduates of 2008.

How am I, a Hwa Chong student of 2011, touch other people's lives? The answer to that question is simple: I touch other people's lives by simply existing. No man is an island. The question, however, is how much more likely am I to touch other people's lives?

We can determine how much more through 2 factors. One being the education I have earned and received, and the other being my status as a Singaporean citizen.

Education that I receive can definitely impact the lives around me much more. If you were to choose between listening to a secondary school student and a graduate regarding advice on a decision that will impact your life, I'm sure you would choose the graduate. This thus allows the graduate to touch more lives around him. Education gives one a special status and special responsibilities that make people look up to you. Hwa Chong has built up a reputation that automatically gives any who have received an education in Hwa Chong a special status, one that allows people to more readily listen to you, one that will allow you to touch other people's lives more frequently.

Apart from the effect that inclines others to listen to you, education also enlightens one to the injustices around him, such that one will more readily help and advise others in need, thus touching more lives. In this year, I have learnt about racism in parts of the world such as India, South America and even Singapore. I have been enlightened about the injustices in authoritarian regimes that people face. I have been educated about how bias and prejudice almost always leads to the harm of one party. I have learned and been purged from my state of ignorance, and I am more sensitive to prejudices and bias around me. I, as a Hwa Chong student, am now more inclined to help others in situations of prejudice that I did not even notice before. I can touch more lives.

On to the second factor of how being a Singaporean citizen allows me to touch other people's lives. A man living in prosperity should realise his prosperity soon, and not hesitate to help others in need. Being brought up in a peaceful, safe environment free from the detrimental effects of war and weather, I have learnt to appreciate what I have now. I have also learnt that others in war-stricken countries do not share the same fortune as us, and they suffer from a host of problems every day. Human compassion drives me to help them, to touch their lives by donations and aid. In Singapore, where we are much better off than other countries, we are expected by the global community to help others, thus allowing for even more opportunity to touch other people's lives.

I, as a Hwa Chong student, are much more likely to touch others' lives due to the education and my status as a Singaporean. I am expected and inspired to help those who need it. I will not shun away from this moral duty. I can and will touch more lives, as a Hwa Chong student of 2011.