MOVING FORWARD

The title for the newspaper article above translates to mean, "Zai Zai moves forward, buries himself in work and hopes to strike gold next year". This lengthy title actually refers to his reaction on losing out to his co-star who won the best actor award for the Taiwan Entertainment Awards for 2009. Zai Zai has acted in a lot of TV roles and also a few films and has been able to bring to life demanding roles. On the other hand, this was the first drama series for newbie Mark Zhao. I think he did a couple of small roles in some dramas and that is all he has in his portfolio. I actually don't have anything against the younger actor but I do feel that the other four nominees who have a larger body of fine work should have been given the honour.

I gave it a thought yesterday when I was in school and it sort of struck me that I too would have felt the same way as Zai Zai (and the other 2 nominees). In my scenario it would be something like a new teacher fresh out of university during her first year of service who shows that she is a good teacher and who is also very hardworking. She stays back to give extra lessons to her students, takes time to enquire about their welfare and does good work. The next year, this particular teacher gets the outstanding teacher award instead of some teachers who have been teaching for umpteenth years. They too are good teachers who also have been giving extra lessons to their students in the afternoons and evenings and even during the weekends. They too look after their students' welfare but unfortunately when it comes to award giving time the administration decides to give the honour to the newbie instead of those who have been consistently good over the years. Well, anyone in such a situation would feel demotivated immediately after the award has been handed out but then again, like Zai Zai, the good teachers would always pick themselves up and move on.