Phew. The YFP festival has finally come to an end. 3 months of hard, hard slogging; just for a weekend of performances. In a flash, everything is over. Tomorrow morning, its back to classes/work for some. Tomorrow morning, well wake up to the realisation that our SD-SYDCs Bold Struggles project has officially ended. And tomorrow morning, my body will start aching again, in spite of which I shall drag myself to the office. But its the kind of ache that makes me feel alive; and reminds me of that frenzied moment today at the last shows finale when Jonathan and I led a stunning neon-caterpillar that snaked through the performance arena of the Toa Payoh Sports Hall. If you think about it, where else in the country would you be able to find such a large congregation of outstanding humanism? As I cycle through the scenes in my memory over the weekend, I see the Soka Stallions with their umbrellas at the ready once again (though they even prepared movable shelters); I see the untiring efforts of trainers and participants alike in hand-fanning the people around them to keep them cool with whatever scrap material there is; I see a curiously majestic sight of an entire stadium chanting for the afternoon rain to stop (which it did); I hear the loud cheers from the stadium stands whenever an item sets off for their performance; not to forget the delicious bottles of meiji milk, the ice-cream from sensei, the little moments of heart to heart dialogues, as well as some singalong sessions from certain quarters of enthusiastic monkeys. Yes, Im one of those monkeys, and it was great fun. I asked a few of my friends about what they felt was their greatest takeaway from this journey, and their answers were similar: that life is all about surmounting inevitable challenges, and that we are all boldly struggling together; at the same time, we should always base our lives on faith to achieve an absolute victory. In modern society, there is always a tendency for material possessions to be an object of devotion. As I like sharing with my juniors, basing your life on such possessions (e.g. money) is like expecting a stack of coins to be stable. The higher it grows, the more wobbly it gets. Sometimes external forces strike and you can do nothing about it (e.g. natural disasters/government tax interventions). If we are to base our lives on that, surely we must be prepared to lose everything. The key then is to base our lives on a firm foundation that will never be shaken; something which has never changed in its meaning for about 800 years since its inscription, and never will. Its like having a thick metal pillar to store all your coins. Try toppling that, Mr Sanshoshima. Hence with the completion of yet another milestone in our journey through human revolution, Im certain weve built an even stronger foundation of our lives. The key turning point is when weve decided to take charge of our own happiness, and exert ourselves dynamically wherever we go. As I once shared with choreo Melvin, some people leave but never really left; while some people come but never really came. I think its safe to say that all of us whove put in our heart and soul for this YFP will certainly leave a lasting legacy for future generations of SGI members. If you ever need a gentle reminder, heres a video of our SD-SYDC Bold Struggles cheer ;). #YFPmusings (Afterthoughts: Im certainly looking forward to the post-YFP celebration on the 28th. I think Ill write my final musings then. Meanwhile, Id like to thank those of you whove been coming up to me saying youre eagerly anticipating my musings. Thank you for your support. I guess its just my own little way of contributing from the ground.)
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 17:15:31 +0000
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