The last chair

When I was in Year 6, my school called in a motivational speaker to speak to the students before our big end-of-primary-school exam (the first out of the three major exams a Malaysian student takes in his/her primary + high school life).

All the Year 6 students were seated in rows of 20 in the hall and in the middle of the session, the speaker (lets call him Tim) called out our head prefect to stand beside him. Tim then said that he wants to do an activity with us. He said for everyone to stand up and form a circle around the hall and we were to bring our chairs with us. 

So, the 300 or so of us stood up and carried/dragged our chairs into a circle around the hall. The only remaining chair in the middle of the hall was the head prefect's chair as she was still standing beside Tim.

Tim then said, "Alright, everyone bring your chairs back and sit in the rows as you were before."

So, the 300 or so of us carried/dragged our chairs back and arranged them into the original rows and sat down. 

Again, Tim asked us to form a circle around the hall, bringing our chairs with us. 

And again, the 300 or so of us stood up and carried/dragged our chairs into a circle around the hall and the only remaining chair in the middle of the hall was the head prefect's chair as she was still standing beside Tim. 

Tim then said, "Alright, everyone bring your chairs back and sit in the rows as you were before."

So, the 300 or so of us carried/dragged our chairs back and arranged them into the original rows and sat down. 

And what do you know? Tim again said, "Everyone, form a circle around the hall and bring your chairs with you."

We did as we were told and formed a circle as before with our chairs and only the head prefect's chair remains alone in the middle of the hall.

As we were standing in the circle wondering what was the point of this pointless exercise, a classmate of mine suddenly ran to the middle of the hall and carried the head prefect's chair into the circle. 

And THAT was what Tim was waiting for.

It was a rather creative, clever exercise to get us moving about in the midst of a long session and at the same time teach us something. What Tim was really trying to say was for us to never leave anyone behind and to always help each other. That was the moral of the exercise: no one gets left behind.

Here I am, 11 years later and still the memory of that day nestles in my mind and I find myself thinking about the lesson of "no one gets left behind" - not in the hall on that day, not in a class when we learn, not in an exam when we study, not in a battle, not in the war, not anywhere, not ever.