Wicks & Waxes: Goodbye, Brother

Friday 19 June 2009

Goodbye, Brother

It was 7.40 am when I reached school. The atmosphere is gaiety, full of anticipation. I made my way past the statue of De La Salle into the green-tiled porch, pass the gallery and hall. Seems like the hall is all prepped for some reception. Then there he was, standing at the door of the school archive, Brother Paul Ho. I walked up to him and said to say hello. He was there smiling, shook my hand and spoke for a while.

Continued to the basketball court where the assembly is held every Friday. Ah, friends and old Xaverians. It was a happy affair. Handshakes and hellos. And I don't even know everyone there. See? Told you we're somewhat bonded. I'm not going to describe everything in detail but there were speeches, old faces (shoutout to Mr Loh Chee Heng and Mr John Tan, not forgetting Bro. Charles). Mr Anthony was up and about. Mr Loo, my History teacher. The ever beautiful Pn Narinder (Chemistry), the lovely Pn Doreen (Biology), Pn Gan (MUET; who came and promote a commemorative notebook), Mr Ian Howell (looking great, eating well I suppose), Mr Samynathan (the guy who asked that I start Perlumbaan Ketiga many years ago), Mr Ong, Mr Dr Sim. There were plenty of new faces too... (no comments, yet).

Doesn't look 55 at all, does he?

Parting speeches are about niceties and praises, cliches and stuff but in today's speech, I agreed with one thing: That is in other schools, we greet our principals by Sir or Mr So and So but we call our's Bro. It may be just another title but I agree that it portrays a relationship above that of a student-teacher. And yeah, one guy called us "visitors". Gosh! We're Xaverians and not even ex Xaverians.

With him like the other teachers, we could easily relate to them, open up. I remember how Bro Paul would enter the class every year to hand out the report books and how he'd look through the marks and grades for each student. There, he'd offer his two cents. We all love his stories. His days in Manchester. I also remember how we're feted to movies when we stayed in the school hall (30 August 1998) for some National Day performance the next day. Then there were disciplinary board meetings and sometimes he'd drop by and the rest is history.

Gosh, he looked far better than I do

"So?", some would ask. It's just that I'm glad and happy to be led by an able man and he did a great job running the school. I'd not forget our charity drive and how he'd encourage us to give and give and give. *Laughs* And then there was Sukan Tara. How, for bearing his namesake, the team would try to come out on top only to disappoint him. He'd be there cheering us on. One more thing, he's someone really expressive and he's straight to the point to. Talk to him about a certain issues and he'd give you the most honest of answers.

The school is definitely going to be really different without the man in white. True, the La Sallian spirit lives on but more than 150 years with these great educators, it needs some getting used to. Already, my friend beside me said that students at the assembly today don't know Mr John Tan. Give it many more years, Xaverians/Saints will only learn of the La Sallian spirit from books and their teachers. Provided the latter grew out from the big La Salle family. As I leave the compound, I leave with yet another noteworthy chapter of life. Nevertheless, like I've said, thing are going to be different. That said, the school will always be around and it would serve as a reminder, no, reminder sounds too stoic. Impassive. Rather, a place we relive our memories. A place we learn to touch hearts.