When he had serious medical problems last year, we hold the breath and prayed hard for him. I think I am praying hard for him as I understand his contributions to the community. I remember my words to him at his critical minutes. We are able to stand tall in a foreign land partly because of the trainings that we had at his tuition. He guided us to be able to speak fluently through his lectures. More importantly, he mentored us to be independent and to be responsible through the Symposium. I told him that the longer he lived, the more students would benefit from his training. I pleaded him to be strong-willed for the benefit of current and future students.I must also admit that I pray hard for his health as I did not want to loose one of my emotional anchors. Living abroad, we don’t have much emotional grips to hold on to. We are in the battle field day in day out. At every single moment at work, we need to be careful not to mess up the tasks given, and after work we don’t really have ways to ease out the stress. Phone calls and online chats do not replace the warm and understanding conversations with family and close friends. Since present days could not emotionally satisfy, I think I visit the past quite often by thinking the love of the family and friends, the satisfactions that I had back home. The golden days at UWN’s tuitions are a big portion of such “visits to the past”.
During UWN’s visit to Singapore, all his pupils made their effort for financial and time contributions. We tried to see him and spend time with him. The senior and junior students meet while spending time with Saya. Some even made overseas calls to their friends so that they can talk to Saya. We talk about the happy moments that we shared at the tuition, we catch up with each other’s work and family status, we vent out our stress and emotions. The long lost links have been found and the network of UWN’s pupils has been widened.
The scene that students making their best effort to share their time and life experiences with Saya is a very lively interaction between the people of the same background, people of the similar interests. I also see it as a two-way communications in which the students paying back to Saya for his gratitude while trying ourselves to hold onto the emotional anchor. Just like the batteries need to be re-charged, we do need such pleasant moments with our loved ones to revitalize ourselves. Those are the moments that energize us to move forward in the battle field.
I hope Saya understands that he is still making significant emotional contributions to our lives. Don’t say thanks Saya, you deserve it.
No comments:
Post a Comment