Purpose

"What is the purpose of 12th Company in ACS?"

This was the question asked to unsuspecting Year 3s as they came and sat for their admin interviews. Needless to say almost all of their first reactions were stunned silence, but then again they are only 15 year olds so it is forgivable for now.

But then the question still has to be answered. So what then is the purpose of 12th Company in ACS? Why have BB in ACS?

Why spend afternoons in the admin room planning activities for Saturday? Why give up entire Saturdays to come back to school again? Why exhaust resources on something that is deemed as merely a CCA according to MOE?

For if we do not understand an organization's reason for being, then that organization becomes redundant and a waste of time and effort.

I've had many varied answers to the question. Some say that 12th Company's role in ACS is to train leaders of the future. Others say it is a place for Christian Education to be taught to youths who so need it in this depraved world. Yet others also add that 12th Company is an organization to reach out and evangelize to the student population of ACS.

Are the above reasons correct and accurate? Yes, but to accept any of these as the main reason is to lose the whole point of Christianity itself.

For the purpose of 12th Company existing is solely for the Glory of God. And that I believe is a fundamental reason for BB existing in the first place. Such an idea requires a large paradigm shift in the mindsets of the Officers today.

An Officer returning to serve in the 12th Company must return not for the Company. Not for the awards or the recognition or respect. Not for friends or nostalgia. It's not even, I dare say, for the Boys themselves. An Officer must only return to serve in order to give Glory to God.

And therein lies a subtle yet fundamental truth. That no longer do we plan programmes or activities for the purpose of training Boys. Neither do we mentor and develop Boys for the purpose of Founder's or J M Fraser, but in EVERYTHING that we do, we do it so that God may receive Glory.

And so as a new admin takes shape and an old admin prepare to relinquish their responsibilities, as new programmes and actvities are planned for the coming year, as Officers go about their duty caring for the Boys, let us remember our sole purpose for existing. That God may be Glorified in everything that we do.