Brotherhood among friends
I had a chance to be present in a reunion gathering of an alumni group from a school which is quite similar to ours (except that we changed our school name). I will not reveal the details but suffice to say that they are of the same batch as us.
The event was the first of its kind for them, and around 60% of the members turned up - quite good considering our numbers rarely touched 50%. Maybe this was their first and everybody must have been excited (well, at least I would think so).
The ballroom was nicely decorated and the F&B services were, well, as expected from a respectable club in KL. Here they were, meeting friends that some of them they had not met in 20 years. They were having good times catching up and reminiscing their past glories.
However, there was not much of a coordination in the programs of the day, or maybe there was lack of it. The stage and a rostrum were neatly prepared and I expected to see some speeches and perhaps some achievement in the making (like officiating an alumni club, like what we did in our 10th year anniversary, or maybe some kind of launching). The only time they use the stage was when they took a group photo. And that was it - that's the only thing they did as a group. Since there was a time limit on the use of the room, they had to end the session and the crowd soon dispersed and some of them went home.
I am not here writing to compare our programs and theirs. I was there observing the the whole thing and occasionally engaged in a small talk. I am not pointing at any fault in that group of people, but you really can't help yourself comparing their 'big' event against what we have done ourselves.
In the past 20 years, we have actually came a long way, and charting more than what other people have done, and for that matter, more than what we would have imagined. Maybe its the culture that we were in, our way of life. Maybe its how we perceive other people and how we received them in our domain. We take our friends as who they are, not so much about what they are now. We openly accept their family members as they are what makes them who they are now. We joked, we called names like we used to, but I don't think anybody took offence.
I sensed something missing in that occassion that I would normally sense in our gatherings. I sensed that we have that camaraderie, that sense of comradeship among us, that brotherhood among friends.
And it really feels good to know that you're in a good company of friends.
The event was the first of its kind for them, and around 60% of the members turned up - quite good considering our numbers rarely touched 50%. Maybe this was their first and everybody must have been excited (well, at least I would think so).
The ballroom was nicely decorated and the F&B services were, well, as expected from a respectable club in KL. Here they were, meeting friends that some of them they had not met in 20 years. They were having good times catching up and reminiscing their past glories.
However, there was not much of a coordination in the programs of the day, or maybe there was lack of it. The stage and a rostrum were neatly prepared and I expected to see some speeches and perhaps some achievement in the making (like officiating an alumni club, like what we did in our 10th year anniversary, or maybe some kind of launching). The only time they use the stage was when they took a group photo. And that was it - that's the only thing they did as a group. Since there was a time limit on the use of the room, they had to end the session and the crowd soon dispersed and some of them went home.
I am not here writing to compare our programs and theirs. I was there observing the the whole thing and occasionally engaged in a small talk. I am not pointing at any fault in that group of people, but you really can't help yourself comparing their 'big' event against what we have done ourselves.
In the past 20 years, we have actually came a long way, and charting more than what other people have done, and for that matter, more than what we would have imagined. Maybe its the culture that we were in, our way of life. Maybe its how we perceive other people and how we received them in our domain. We take our friends as who they are, not so much about what they are now. We openly accept their family members as they are what makes them who they are now. We joked, we called names like we used to, but I don't think anybody took offence.
I sensed something missing in that occassion that I would normally sense in our gatherings. I sensed that we have that camaraderie, that sense of comradeship among us, that brotherhood among friends.
And it really feels good to know that you're in a good company of friends.
posted by Wan Ray @ 6:20 PM
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