Why Politics?

If anyone wants to question my qualification - here is proof I graduated kindergarten

I realize that I’ve talked very little about myself (other than several of my schooling experiences), and perhaps it was a bit weird to do so when it feels like I’m going through a kind of, sort of, transitional period in life (whatever this means, I’m just vibin’ I guess).  But I decided to give it a go, so that what I post up feels more conversational and relatable rather than distant and foreign - I’m not part of an angry mob constantly attacking politicians, there’s more to me, I am occasionally funny (I also like ice cream). Here’s a start: despite the many changes I’m experiencing in this new environment (being exposed to new world views - and accents, having different friendship groups, having to be independent), God has been constant. 

With the high-school senior that is still the sister figure in my life now - just more hipster and cool

Remember those biography books you used to have in primary school, where you pass to your friends to have them fill in their details? Let me introduce myself with that format (just gotta imagine that it's colorful and filled with stickers hehe):

Name: Chloe lee 李彩红

D.O.B: 1st August 

Favorite color: Purple

I begin to realize that we included pretty private information in that little notebook - I’m not going to list down my house or email address or my phone number (DM me if you want to be a pen paaaaaal). To compensate, here are some other interesting stuff about myself (of which I wouldn’t have been able to share when I was in primary school):

Education: currently pursuing my Masters in Political Psychology in the UK. 

(I wrote down somewhere that my favorite food were French fries, which I still love now but... I’ve also grown to love healthier alternatives, like avocados - yay healthy Chloe).

My brother's doodle of me when I turned 18 - he also wrote me a song, then I cry cry cry

Perhaps the title of the article is a little misleading, it’s not going to be a 3-point article on why I want to be a politician (in fact, I’m not even sure if I’ll go down that road). I don’t like being preachy, and a lot of people are doing that on social media nowadays [e.g. how to be productive when you’re lazy, why you should stop eating meat (tried to talk to the boyfriend about being vegan, he just pretends he doesn't understand English), drink 18 glasses of water everyday, "how I overcame and how you should too" stuff - most of them are said with good intentions, but we really just don’t need someone nagging us and reminding us that we’re not living in “the right way”]. In fact, it’s just going to be a raw recall of my thought processes and how I’m suddenly doing Political Psychology (what even is it? Idek). It’s going to be about my faith, my journey on discovering a purpose in Christ, and how I want to serve something or Someone that is far bigger than myself. 

Somehow ended up on a radio show with one of my closest friends - of which I trust with my face, love life and children

I did a diploma in Mass Communications - mostly because I wanted to follow after my brother’s footsteps of doing something fun and creative (I eventually ventured into something else later, but I’ll talk about the theoretical reasons of that some other time). I was leading a Corporate Social Responsibility event that was part of my course - unlike most university-charity events, I decided that trying to raise money from students was pretty pointless because (1) students are broke (personally, if someone came up to me every two minutes asking if I wanted to buy something in the name of charity, I’d be pretty annoyed), and (2) if students do give, it would be out of sympathy or friendship and not necessarily because they cared about the cause. I decided it would be more meaningful to build a partnership between student-participation and company-sponsorship, for example, if students were willing to go barefoot for two hours, a pair of school shoes would be donated. The ideas were met with several opposition (within and out of the team) and whether or not it can be deemed successful is someone else's tale to tell (my lecturer, mainly), but it was what sparked my passion to bring change. From there, I began thinking - maybe I should join an NGO, but NGOs have no money and that is a limitation, maybe I would join one of those companies with a specific CSR department (because at least they have sugarmummies, I mean, funding from their mother company)... If I want to make large-scale changes and impact more people, maybe I should join politics! (???). It can fit neatly into a short paragraph but this epiphany was not an epiphany at all - it was not a sudden realization, but a developing thought process for over four years now (through my Diploma, down the road of what-should-I-do-for-my-Degree, passing through wow-I-can't-believe-I-graduated street and finally at the current toll of I-bought-my-one-way-ticket-to-the-UK; I also dyed my hair many different colors).

After our final paper of our final year - what did I do to deserve that kick? Idek.

Just two years ago, any forms of politics would be disinteresting to me - perhaps this is because we grew up thinking that any forms of opposition means imprisonment, it's a horror movie, don't talk about politics (in fact any forms of opinion was deemed unworthy). 5 year-old me would be very surprised at my own decisions. Now, I sink in my hostel chair, taking deep breaths - absolutely contented, grateful and at peace that I am here, thinking the way I do (weirded out by how my photo on Instagram is getting comments from random maid agencies but that's besides the point), confident about my identity and comfortable with voicing out my opinions (whilst trying not to obsess over needing validation).

Me being a total derp - that say I also dropped my hotdog that same day, sed.

In hindsight, every single year of my education has been very impactful - God has shown tremendous grace and mercy through them all. I didn't understand why I was so dumb in primary or high school, but if I were any smarter, I probably wouldn't have questioned the outdated and broken system that we currently still employ - of which I am passionate to now go against. I met amazing friends (and the boyfriend), who have seen and helped me mature. I had wonderful internships, which were steep learning curves, but has given me great insight on how to function with other adults and be productive (my superiors were also incredibly generous and would buy me nice meals hehe) - also looks gr8 on my CV. I am where I am, who I am - by the favour of this Christ. This is a tin can jam-packed with sardine, for the goodness of God in my life cannot be merely squashed into one written-piece of work, but I am glad that I started this blog - I am excited that I get to share these miracles.