My old secondary school classmate, whom I bummed into in the neighbourhood was surprised when he found out I was way at the bottom of the foodchain at work (national slavery), and was not like him, one step higher than the bottom of the foodchain. I told him I didn't prefer the responsibilities and extra duties I'll have to play had I been as a similar positiion as him.
He mentioned in his part cynical-serious voice that we should be taking on extra responsibilities as we grow older, and it was good lessons learnt had I been in his position.

I think that comment restored back in me part my identity, about what makes Edward tick, and to borrow from our national tourism board, 'uniquely Edward'.
I don't think I shun away from responsibilities. I'd like to think I've got a pragmatic heart, that I was born and brought up with values emphasising on pragmatism -by the Gar'ment and my own Dad - and being practical. However, I'm lucky that I had a 'non-intrusive' Dad; not exactly liberal, he was very strict on certain values (meant for another day's storytelling), but he did leave me to my own devices, and was fairly open-minded and tried to support me whenever I had a new endeavour or interest. That made-gave me a very idealistic mind, which I'm very thankful for today.
Perhaps I didn't grow up being idealistic. Maybe it was because I was innocent, simple-minded (as opposed to being street smart) and an oft-used word on me, naive. But whether I had liked it or not, I also had to go thorugh the rigours of life; I like to see mine as being upgraded from a working-class background to that of a middle-class (screw those who say they're middle class when they stay in condominums and private homes), so I wasn't that sheltered from the harsh realities. I could have been at times, not being exposed, but then, what do you say about people who are growing up in a really sheltered environment?

I might be pessimistic at times, but I do dislike being so, or being cynical. Edward's new thinking is that life's too short to complain, rant and whine about how unfair life is. If one gets too caught up with it, you end up being part of it, part of rolling snowball, and then summer comes along.