Convocation Week '11

This week is convocation week. Over the last few days my facebook updates were vivid with pictures of my friends in their convocation gowns. Everyone was beaming, smiling, posing with parents, friends and even with their professors. A momentous occasion, a capping stone, convocation serves many as a conclusion to their many years of education. Knighted for all to see; family and friends alike witness their ascension into the ranks of society.

I remembered when I was a recruit in the army I looked forward to my passing out parade. That was the parade which marked the end of my Basic Military Training, after which I would be a private. On the eve of the parade, everyone was happy, everyone was looking forward to their parents coming to pick them up and leave Pulau Tekong, one of my bunkmate was even running around the room shouting “POP LOR”. I was no different, I could not wait to be posted out, I touched my shaved head and thought that I am finally allowed to let my hair grow. But, I made the mistake of thinking that POP was the end. Every single Singaporean male can relate to what I just said. POP was not the end of our life as a recruit, I went from being a recruit to being a trainee and I went from section to syndicate. I had to do all that I did and more, and failure did not always mean push ups.

Looking at my facebook wall, I saw small thumbnails of gowns and hats, bears and flowers. But I felt the void, those who are missing from the pictures. Some of those who are reading this, have graduated and are still jobless, and deep in debt, some of those reading this are feeling lost because after a lifetime of being told what to do next, they are suddenly told to choose their path themselves, some of those reading this are in love and know that they cannot get married because they literally cannot afford to live the life they so rightly deserve.

Convocation is indeed a milestone is all of our lives, but it is just that, a milestone, not a finishing line. It does not mark the end of learning, it does not mark the end of honest hard work, it does not mark the end of effort, and it does not mark the end of friendship. It only means that we still have to do all that we do mentally in school, but consequences of failure are that much greater. It means that a bad presentation does not mean that you lost that 10%, but that year’s bonus or that HDB downpayment. It means greater accountability, greater responsibility, greater expectation without necessarily greater rewards.

Allow me to offer my congratulations for overcoming this great hurdle. But it is only a hurdle, one in a series, it is not the end but the beginning. You have achieved the dream your parents had for you when you were born, people who gave up so much so that we can have the life they never had. But please remember, today is not about you or me, it’s about all those who were working behind the scene to give us the best footing to begin the greatest struggle of our existence, the struggle to live a honourable life.

Good Luck Everyone.