By Jan Vicente B. Pekas
As I had started to notice these past few weeks, a great number of students have started to enjoy their vacation. Graduation videos have been popping up on social media. Photos of students are shown with their togas on and a big smile on their faces. The music had brought back memories. Some before the pandemic when the joy of graduation was shared in a direct manner. Smiles would be met with other smiles and laughter would envelop a whole room. And long tables would lie with food and drinks on top of them. Joy seemed to shine even brighter in a face to face setting.
Although, for last year, It was a shame that students could not walk up to a stage. Only able to see their names on a screen. And the music may have been the same as it would in a face to face setting, the effects though were significantly different. I remember having raw emotions swirling within me as I too, had walked up the stage.
Nevertheless, the stage may not have been there for us last year, but the family beside us more than made up for a simple platform. And the smiles from our parents were the ones that made our emotions swirl deep inside. Besides, we could always expect food on an occasion such as this. The setting may not have been what we expected, but it did not change our accomplishments.
Now, I am glad to see many ceremonies being held face to face. The efforts of each student certainly made them deserving of such moments, for adjusting in different learning modes is all but easy.
Yet, I and other students are left with only the viewing of that stage at a distance, as we are still left with unanswered modules and vacation still seemingly some time further. As more and more students enter into vacation mode, we are instead left teased. For I myself cannot help but think of what lies beyond all these unanswered modules left, days of carefree moments and their enjoyment.
Still, watching others enter vacation days is a sight that make me envy, but living with one is worse. Carefree acts around me make me want to join in. Immersing myself in their places, despite more schoolwork needing to be done. Even their teasing can’t be helped but received with a smile, a painful one.
But, friend or family they may be, being able to reach that stage is one that took considerable effort. Learning through a pandemic provided a unique kind of hardship, one where we had not experienced before. The celebrating of the end of another school year is one of special quality. And it was a mistake of mine to tarnish it with envy. Instead, the memories of our loved ones smiling deserve joy and happiness that preserve them through the years.**
