Thoughts #14: Hwa Chong or Chinese High?

Are you Hwa Chong or Chinese High? This was a perplexing question for some who attended these schools in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Hwa Chong Junior College (a.k.a HCJC, a prominent high school in Singapore) was established which was a separate entity to the Chinese High School, one of the earliest boys' school in Singapore.

The story goes that Chinese High organized a 100th anniversary dinner in March 2019 and if you are a Hwa Chong student, it's technically not your dinner. So should you attend? However, HCJC was then merged with Chinese High to form Hwa Chong Institute when the through train program was introduced. In short, HCJC ceased to exist and there would be little reason to hold HCJC only dinners in the future.

But from the perspective of proud HCJC students, it's an important segregation. Partly because either they came from other reputable secondary schools (junior high schools) and would want to associate more with their alma mater of four years (since junior college was only two years) or they simply did not want to associate with Chinese High (especially ladies, since this was a boy's school).

In the end, it all boils down to time and perspective. Another 100 years from now, would anyone remember there was this segregation between Hwa Chong and Chinese High? Would anyone care? Flipping things around, would anyone of us here be around to attend the 200th anniversary dinner? If not, then should we attend this one? What would happen if we missed this dinner? It is regret or no big deal? 

Investing is also about asking the big questions. Some of the big questions that I like to ask are:

1. In 5 to 10 years, how would this bad news affect the stock? Is it a critical bankruptcy blow? What is the likelihood that the company ride through this and become stronger?

2. Does this action survive the "newspaper headline" test? (this is both an investing and life option question, when we do something questionable, think of how it would look if the media looks at it.)

3. What happens if I am wrong? What is the maximum loss? Can I sleep soundly at night holding this mistake (if it turns out to be one)? Does it mean critical financial damage? 

Another analogy worth sharing: Omaha Beach in Normandy, France was one of the bloodiest fighting spots during D-Day, 6 June 1944. Thousands of Allied soldiers sacrificed on that day to secure landing sites in order to topple Hitler. They succeeded. As Asians, we would probably shun buying any properties there in the 1950s, given the risks of haunting and what not. But, today, it's expensive beachfront properties. Who cares about D-Day. It's all time and perspective! 

Happy Vesak Day!