Feature article:

“What if..” Mike sighed while lying on his bed.

“What if I am not a human being? What would I be?” he added.

There was a moment of silence. Then, a young man has entered Mike’s room. He sat on a chair near the bed and began to talk.

“Mike, I think you can be a pencil. You can compare yourself to a pencil. Get the point?” the young man had said.

“But dad, what does a pencil have to do me? Do we have some similarities somehow?” the little boy asked his father.

“Of course, there are some. Did you know that there was a story about a pencil maker who listed the so-called ‘five principles’ of being a pencil? Sounds funny but it is true. (Looking at his son, he began to talk again) Well, let me share it with you.”

“Okay. First, just like a pencil, everything you do will always leave a mark.” the father smiled at his son while the little boy listens to what he say.

“Next, you can always correct the mistakes you make. As we all know, pencils do have erasers that can be used to change a wrong answer with a right one.”

“Well, the third one tells us that what is important is what is inside you.”

“Hm.. so dad, it means that in a pencil, the lead inside is what really matters and in a person, it is the attitude or personality?” Mike said.

“Yes, you’re right. Then the fourth point states that, in life, you will undergo painful sharpening, which will help you make a better pencil. The word ‘sharpening’ means trials or problems.”

Mike nodded in approval and smiled at his father.

“And last but the least, the fifth reason. Can you tell me what it is?” the father asked Mike.

A bit confused, Mike tried to make a guess but he cannot think of one.

“Okay. I’d better tell you about it. The most important is, to be a pencil that you can be, you must allow yourself to be