Three Generations

School ended weeks ago, but there is no holiday mood at all. Being used to the old days of getting "cut" from school after receiving your report books, I am impressed at seeing school as vibrant as usual. Due to the upcoming Open House on 22nd November, uniform groups have been working a long way to make their parades impressive. Meanwhile, performing arts groups are training hard to hone their skills for the Cultural Potpourri in the last minute. Shouting orders from uniform group commandants, beautiful music from the Band, Guzheng and Chinese Orchestra, as well as the construction sounds from the back of our school all contribute to an active, vibrant and exciting atmosphere in the school holiday.

Almost all these elements seem to ensure the meaningfulness of this precious holiday. Standing at the watershed point before going into the graduation class, this holiday is the last buffer we could have before facing the challenges posed by a new year, a crucial academic year, the O Level year.

Today is the last day of O Level examinations for our seniors. Because I had CCA training early in the morning, I arrived at the school gate at 8:30. Unexpectedly, I was stopped by the security guard. O Level was in progress, so we were only supposed to wait for the ending bell to ring, which emanated the beginning of my CCA training, and the end of the O Level marathon for my seniors.

It was a critical moment. Standing at the school gate, facing the iron bars which set us into two different moods, I got a subtle and sweet-bitter feeling that we were seperated in two different worlds. Perhaps they were racking their head for the last essay question when I walked upon the slope towards school along my daily route; perhaps they were letting out a sigh of relieve after putting the last full stop when I set my foot out of my familiar RB0302; perhaps they were checking their answers with adrenalin still pumping down while I put my index finger on the fingerprint scanner...

And my juniors, they were having their Bridging Course, oblivious of the up-and-down feelings of those examtakers. Exams seem a too faraway thing from them, but seem so near at the same time, awaiting them to step into the endless whirl of real excitement and anxiety. They have that kind of faces which lead you back into the time tunnel, those faces shining with the glow of dreams and aspiration, those faces written with determination and endurance, those faces smiling at us in an endearing way, and those faces which make one want to explore more about them, but have to stop and admire involuntarily from distance.

A picture of "three generations" came into my mind: on an expansive field which is impossible to trace its ends and boundaries, walking a man on a grass lane. Shuffling slowly beside him is his father, and on his shoulders is the son. They walk along together, slowly, carefully and firmly, against the expansive greenery of the field. In front of them, there is a golden sun dropping under the horizon. And upon that is the sky, supported by the man's bent back, his father's hunchback and the son's strong arms curving lovingly around his father's neck.

In this holiday, the three generations are to be parted, and heading towards their future on different tracks. The "old" are leaving while the "young" come to replenish. We, stuck in the middle, are the ones who are going to arch up the sky, for the son, and for the grandfather.

It is a holiday to start from a blank sheet of paper, a holiday to continue the long journey, and a holiday to relish the sweetness of the fruit.

A holiday to plow, a holiday to toil, and a holiday to gain...

We three generations~~~