Nemo and the Sharks, The Parable of Nemo II

Nemo entered the school with excitement. At last, this is a place that he is comfortable in. After all, he had spent all his life in school. How could this school in the ocean be any different from the aquariums’? He is confident that he will find his way around the school.
Nemo is dead wrong. Little did he know that he is in the SSSS meaning Shrewd Smiling Sharks’ School. Sharkies have strong personalities. They say what they think and get what they want. They are aggressive and clever. Early on in these young sharkies mind, they were taught by adult sharks to fend for themselves; to attack first or else they will be attacked. This ‘attack mode’ which is supposedly to protect self became a powerful shield to blind the self as well. If one is not careful, he will point at the fault of others without seeing his own. In the end, personal introspection is denied and blaming someone else will be the norm. To be tough is popular while to be gentle is unheard of . This is an insight to the S.S.S.S. Note that these sharkies are friendly, smart and smiling sharks. It just happened that they have been trained in a certain way to survive the life in the ocean. Nonetheless, little sharkies seemed to loom too big for Nemo.
You see, Nemo doesn’t know how to assert himself. He is usually timid and soft spoken. Amidst the sharkies, Nemo felt so small and insecure. He is so cautious and scared of being attacked without reason. In order to cope in the SSSS, Nemo has to be stronger than usual: to assert for his rights, to speak up (and speak out loud) and to ‘jump for the kill or else he will be killed’ syndrome. In his first six weeks of school, Nemo felt drained and heavily laden in keeping up with the SSSS.

The Parable of Nemo

The Shell That Nemo Never Had

Nemo lives among strange creatures. He has just moved from his aquarium to the ocean. In his new neighbourhood, majority of the sea creatures are the turtles. They are strong swimmers, herbivorous and adorn themselves with black shells. Nemo feels naked around them since he doesn’t have the hard cover like theirs. He imagines himself with his own shell. In fact, he tried on several shells in the market in order to fit in. To have a shell would mean an affinity: a point of similarity in an otherwise strange environment in the ocean. He is obviously different from the turtles. They look at him and scrutinized him: openly staring or secretly curious about him. They do not mean to be mean or rude; yet Nemo can feel a growing dislike of being unique, you know, being a standout weirdo is not fun. Although he is used to creatures’ investigative eyes in the aquarium, he started to resent the feeling of caution as eyes followed him everywhere he go in the vast ocean.

Twenty Four Weeks

Twenty four weeks and four days
You count every hour, night and day
Even when people could not tell
You just know me all too well

You prepared a place where I will lay
You designed me in an intricate way
You breathe life one appointed day
You have heard the prayer that baba say

Soon they will call me baby Mei
As my parents found out today
Vital signs of a healthy girl am I
A miracle that money cannot buy

Heaven rejoice and earth welcome
Angels anticipate of who I will become
Ancient cultures both racing in my blood
In your path, O Ancient of Days, I shall trod

24 Weeks Pregnant