English Teachers Are Happy To Share

English Teachers Are Happy To Share

Random Thoughts by Pauline

June 28 2016


Water lilies   
There is a star-shaped pond in the school front court. Though small, the pond is the most elegant attraction of the campus and students’ most popular hangout.



Every now and then, one or two water lilies in different colours ranging from salmon pink to lavender purple would blossom in solitude at different corners of the pond. They close as the sun sets. We joke that these flowers work shorter hours than we do.



One morning as I stepped in the campus, Uncle Hon the gardener, with a broad smile on his face, pointed to one water lily and asked me to have my phone camera ready. There it was – bingdi lily or a lily with two corollas that should actually bloom into two flowers! Needless to say, thir ls flower became the campus talk for a couple of days.



I could have just walked past this rare sight had I not been kindly directed by Uncle Hon to appreciate it. That is us – we take our neighbourhood and the people around us for granted with little attention and rare appreciation. We do not see beauty in our city but travel far for exotic views. We are numb to the loving care of our family but keep chasing for fatal attractions.  Since that day, every morning when I arrive at school, I do not just glance at the lilies but instead circle round the pond to smell in the fragrance and to take a good look at the delicate flowers and waxy leaves!  



Random Thoughts by Pauline

June 24 2016 

Losing faith

I was brought up as a Catholic and had been a fervent disciple of the Lord for two decades. This school year and for the first time in my long career, I am working in a Christian school. As to the in-between years, God was virtually gone from all aspects of my life. There are moments of exception though such as when I visited churches on my various European tours or when I attended church weddings and memorial services. Then God in His Almighty touched upon this prodigal daughter and inflicted a fleeting twinge of guilt for having abandoned Him. But once I am outside the House of God, I am my irredeemable self again!



But this year at school, I attend the various Christian activities, be they the regular morning assemblies or the annual events and programmes, I must say I am quite moved by the earnest sermons, the frank self-reflections, the harmonious singing, the cry for awakening and other rituals like singing the hymn “thank you for the food” before students start their lunch. Teachers and students alike have incorporated God in their lives. They thank Him for happiness and successes as well as failures. They deplore Him for blessing and support. They entrust everything to Him, their meeting, their examinations, their pressure etc. Though my religion is Catholicism and the school is Christian, it is the same God we believe in.



And yet, the fire that broke out at the industrial building at Ngau Tau Kok Road on June 21 had shaken my flimsily restored faith in God. The blaze has already taken away two precious lives. As these two young zealous firemen entered the inferno, where was God? This put my memory back to the 60s when I was studying the Nazi genocide of the Jews! “Was God taking a leave?” I asked.