The sad story of two bright men ...

Two men. One, a double degree-holder and an Asean scholar. The other, a third and final year student at NUS. Both are obviously intelligent and smart. Their stars were shining, and their future looked almost bright and certain. But both men chose to be on the wrong side of the law.

The former faces a life sentence for having pushed his girlfriend onto an oncoming MRT train. It appeared that the girlfriend, who survived the ordeal, had wanted to break off with him. The latter committed burglary after learning that his father had insufficient CPF money to sponsor his university education. His is a story that could have turned out quite differently and perhaps with a happy note. When he was 15, he got into bad company, became addicted to gambling and went on a burglary spree to feed his habit. Caught and sentenced to seven years jail, the boy took his "O" and "A" level while behind bars, but was released on good behaviour five years later. He got into the university, and life seemed to be doing fine until he realised that he may have to drop out of study because of his father's depleting CPF money.

It's really sad to see these men throwing away their future like that. While not condoning their actions, I feel that these two young men are obviously troubled, perhaps even depressed. The first chap was said to be depressed over relationship problems. With their intelligence, why didn't they seek professional help? I'm no psychologist, but I think people who are unhappy do exhibit some signs to suggest that they are depressed or feeling really down in life. I wonder if the people around them saw their cry for help? I can't help feeling really sorry for them .....



Category: Musings