White Shirt

Few days before my very first day at school 20 years ago, I asked my mother why every child must go to school. I asked her such question because I was terrified of school since my parents had never sent me to pre-school. Moments after hearing my silly question, my mother took me to her wardrobe and opened its doors. She took out a small white shirt hung between her clothes and handed it over to me. It was the most beautiful piece of cloth I had ever seen in my entire life. It was dazzling white and so silky. It was made of satin. My mother told me that that beautiful white shirt was my new school uniform which tailored specifically for me.

I was so thrilled to own that beautiful shirt despite the fact it was just a school uniform. I did not come from a wealthy family, thus I wasn't accustomed to expensive and luxurious clothes. My mother then told me that the reason she bought me that beautiful shirt was not to make me like going to school but she wanted me to always remember that if I wanted to have a thousand piece of clothes as beautiful as the one I was holding, I must go to school. Only with education I would have a better life, she said. If it was not because of that beautiful white shirt and its metaphor, I might have never gone to school and would never have a better life.