It's More Than Just Lectures, Tutorials And Exams

Commitments have brought me to the sands of Sentosa several times over the past three years, watching similar activities taking place on same old settings. But the faces change, save for a persistent few. Some left footprints, others didn't. But at the end of the day, all footprints will be washed away by the tides. What's left behind are faint etchings in the heart, memories, I believe is what they are called.

All the perspiration, swears, tears, cuts and bruises, they are just as memory-worthy as the laughters and cheers. And who with a loose screw in mind can forget the 'fantastic' packet food and the 'excellent' sleeping conditions? But at the end of the day, we all have to move on. Footprints or not, we all have to move on, with memories and friends as company.

Friends who had been through this same experience, they are more like comrades actually. Fought for the same good cause and fought over the right to have the final say. We all fought hard and brave. Most disputes were resolved. Some never quite got a happy ending, just like their over-zealous participants. But at the end of the day, we embrace and congratulate one another, and we move on.

We leave a part of us behind, a legacy, though it may not be fervently followed and practised by our successors. But we know we did. We leave footprints in one another's hearts, imprinted to be exact, safe from the tides and other eroding forces of Mother Nature.

And so we all move on, with an occasional look over our shoulders, smiling as we relish the ingenious absurdities of our youth.