Newsletter No. 459

8 459 • 4.6.2015 Letter 10: Bowing Out 20 May 2015 Your last letter has dropped a small pebble into this quiet backwater of a retiree’s life. No apologies, please. You don’t owe me one, nor to anyone or any institution. No, I would not ask you to re-consider your option. I can only congratulate you. What gives one greater pleasure than seeing a young man of your talent and abilities availing himself of an opportunity to check out other pastures? A place of higher learning is a vast terrain, but even such an expansive terroir has its bounds and fringes for people with your ambition and justifiable pride. You must feel that now is the time to bow out, to move on and up. In one of his movingly meditative essays, ‘On the Level’, Julian Barnes wrote: Groundlings, we can sometimes reach as far as the gods. Some soar with art, others with religion; most with love. I’d say executives like us soar with our labour, our professionalism. And don’t look at it as finality. Don’t think you are done with the University. You have a long work-life ahead of you. There are still many acts to be written. Who knows if its denouement wouldn’t fall where it all began in the first place? My first job was with this University and, after a short period of foraging in unfamiliar sectors and foreign territories, I came back full circle and dutifully served out my tenure here. Some of my best friends were made on this campus— colleagues and ex-colleagues who have gone on to become life-long friends and pension-age company. I know you must be filled with that post- resignation honeymoon feeling now. Enjoy it, and take stock of what you have done and seen here. As the cliché goes, this is the beginning of an end and the end of a beginning. Standing at the end of the platform enables you to see more clearly the landscape in and around the station, and much much beyond. Slotting in the last piece of the jigsaw, or drawing a line through the last dots, gives you an understanding of the larger picture, which is probably the most valuable parting gift you’d receive. Groundlings that we are, we cannot but contemplate the closures at different stages of our life's journey. Such reflections would give us a sense of and a structure to our experience in the months and years that have gone by. Closure will not only give us meaning but meaningfulness. Another kind of closure is never far from the mind of a recluse, or a retiree, the two being often one and the same. One is not sure if turning the next corner would usher in a new vista or.... There’s this foreboding for oneself. There’s this foreboding for ones one cares for. But, oh, sorry for such dark thoughts! Of course, a bright new vista is your rightful destination. I apologize. I have nothing but the fondest valedictory thoughts for you. Yours sincerely, H. 一封家書 Letters to a Young Executive Prof. Tang Sze-wing ( 4th left ) at the Department of Chinese Language and Literature served as the moderator of the workshop. Guest speakers were Prof. Xue Yu ( 2nd left ), Department of Cultural and Religious Studies; Prof. Lai Pan-chiu ( 5th right ), Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts; and Dr. Andy C.C. Yu ( 4th right ), Office of University General Education. The three speakers talked on the theme 聯合書院2015年周年研討會 於4月9日假康本國際學術園 一號演講廳舉行。今年的研 討會以「宗教與人生」為主 題，吸引了逾五百多位師生出 席。研討會召集人、書院副院 長兼通識教育主任關海山教授 （ 左三 ）致歡迎辭。 研討會主持為中國語言及 文學系鄧思穎教授（ 左四 ）， 講者包括文化及宗教研究系 學愚教授（ 左二 ）、文學院副 院長賴品超教授（ 右五 ）和 大學通識教育部余之聰博士 （ 右四 ）。三位講者分別從佛 教、基督教和伊斯蘭教三大 宗教的教義和生活體驗探討 「宗教與人生」。他們發言後 為大會討論環節，講者和聽 眾互相交流，分享意見。 The 2015 Annual Workshop of United College was held on 9 April in Yasumoto International Academic Park. With the theme ‘Religion and Life’, the event attracted over 500 students and staff. Prof. Kwan Hoi-shan ( 3rd left ), convener of the workshop, Associate College Head and Dean of General Education of the College, welcomed the guest speakers. 聯合書院周年研討會 United College Annual Workshop of ‘Religion and Life’ from the perspectives of Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, respectively, with examples drawn from their believers’ application of their religious tenets in everyday lives. Their talks were followed by an open forum in which they exchanged ideas with the audience. 校園消息 Campus News