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Graduation and 31 Years On


June 16, 2007 (Saturday) was the TARC (Tunku Abdul Rahman College) reunion dinner. It is the meeting of old friends. The people in the photo are Chow Yee Fee, Tan Jor Lan, myself (standing). Mr and Mrs Lee Sin Meng, Tracy Tee and Alan Tan. We graduated in 1976. That calculates to be 31 years ago.
It is difficult to imagine the passing of time, while we build our careers and our families. In the blink of an eye, more than three decades have passed. The great news is that we remain as friends to bring back those memories that only we can appreciate. Many names were brought back to remind us of the good days.
What can such a reunion bring insight to our lives? One, friendship lives on, but we have to make an effort to meet up. This time, I took up the challenge to drive down from Singapore to Subang Jaya, with a stop in Melaka. Sin Meng was so kind to pick me up to take me to TARC which I have not been in all these years. Two, as age catches up, the things we deemed so important in my youth, are fading into the horizon, as time with family and friends takes on more significance. It is recognizing the concept of "impermenance" in the buddhist teaching or the life cycle as in science. The priorities in life start to change with this acceptance of "dust to dust". Three, there is still so much fun to have, when meeting together, and so much to talk about. There is no boredom, unless one chooses to have it. The meeting was so much fun, with the young ones who are currently in the School of Arts and Science, School of Business Studies and School of Technology, as well as the first batch of students of 1975. We are in the second batch!
Some of us are already planning to meet up in Singapore this month for a dog show, organized by the Singapore Police Force, whom one of our classmate will be running it. "May the force be with us," as in the movie, "Star Wars" to have more laughter and merry making. The 31 years is just a number. It is the attitude towards life that determines our barometer of happiness.
Let's move on....
Check out the new website: http://www.sasktar.com/ on the alumni.

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