Page 34 - kaleidoscope 2024 - 20.3.25

GROUP 4
– SENIOR MIDDLE 1

First Runner-Up:
LEE XI YU CHLOE

Class: 4AC Ren

a spot at their scholarship programme, and I gladly accepted. Thus, my life continued in
another country, with new friends, new culture, and new experiences. Write a story that begins with:
My grandfather once said,

It has been 10 years since then, and I am now 24 years old. The experiences I have
gained from making my own choices have been invaluable to me. Hardship, affection, “One day you will leave
distress, sanguinity, as well as many other complex emotions left me with more room for
growth and even more possibilities. At 24 years old, I finally understood what my grandfather this world behind,
meant, as I close the door of a chapter of my life, and enter a new door as I continue, living
not for the judgment and looks of others but rather, for myself.
so live a life you will

remember.”

My grandfather once said, "One day you will leave this world behind, so live a life
you will remember." When I first heard those words, I was too young to grasp what he was
trying to tell me, but now I think I have a better understanding.

My grandfather lived a life that I can only describe as eventful. As a child, he moved
over to Malaysia with his many siblings as a poor village boy. Until this day, he still suffers
the consequences of not getting enough nutrition and doing hard labour in his youth.
Eventually, he struck a gold mine in investments, and made some good business decisions
that allowed him to provide his children with the comfortable childhood he could not have.
While he was not the perfect parent, he managed to raise his three children to become
upstanding adults. Now that they have all gone their separate ways in life, some having
children of their own, he has a lot more time to look back on everything he did and wonder
if it was all worth it.

Old people have a tendency to reminisce. Perhaps it is because they have more time
on their hands now than they have ever had, or because they are dissatisfied with their lives
now. Some of them overthink about the small choices they made in their prime, bemoaning
that if they had just invested in more stocks, rekindled their love with an old flame or had a
third child, the trajectory of their lives would have been changed and they would be more
fulfilled now. My grandfather strongly disagrees. He believes that the past is the past; the
only way to go now is forward. Whenever he brings up the past, he does so fondly.

32 ......... English Essay Writing Competition English Essay Writing Competition ......... 33