Grads, grads, everywhere

Every day, I see dozens of recent HKU graduates on campus. Wearing black robes and silly hats, they snap pictures with their family and friends. Graduate House, where I live, is a popular photo spot, as is the statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen by the lily pond.

I've had three graduation ceremonies, but only attended two. I missed my Masters convocation because I was living in Beijing at the time. Of the other two graduation ceremonies, my parents attended none. No one can accuse them of favouring one sibling over another, though, because they didn't attend my sister's graduation ceremonies either. Nor did they attend my brother's.

My parents showed no interest in attending any such ceremonies. For one thing, they EXPECT me and my siblings to finish high school. Who COULDN'T finish high school? As for university, they couldn't exactly use the same excuse, but they were much more honest: they told me they thought these ceremonies would be boring, and they'd rather stay home to watch TV.

Honestly, I'm not heartbroken. These ceremonies don't really mean much to me anyway. My parents always supported me and my siblings, spiritually and financially, and besides, I didn't enroll in university to wear a black robe, wear a silly hat, and get a silly piece of paper from the university president or vice chancellor. I'm not holding my breath to see if my parents will attend my PhD graduation ceremony. I don't even know if I'LL stick around for that, let alone make a trip out here if I've already left Hong Kong by then.