2018年10月1日

A few days into the new school year, Hong Kong was hit by the most serious typhoon ever which rendered the city paralyzed.  On 16 September (Sunday), Education Bureau announced that students need not go to school on the following day regardless of the signal hoisted; but the school had to remain open for those who need to return to campus.  Seeing the typhoon dying down, the school made a bold decision pleading all staff to return to school to help assess the damage and to clean up the campus.

 

I am most grateful to teachers for then we knew it was almost impossible in the morning traffic because of the fallen trees everywhere.  Two teachers took more than four hours to travel from home to work; most staff arrived at school at around 10am.  It was then we saw that the campus had not been seriously damaged: no actual broken glasses, but a dozen doors were broken, one air conditioning unit flew inward, student lockers flew everywhere despite the fact that they had been roped off, and our famous tall pine tree was stripped naked leaving the stem standing, with no branches and leaves.

 

Teachers helped assess the damage and do cleaning, wanting to prepare a clean and safe campus for students on the following day. Then we had another unexpected stay-home day on Tuesday.  Two sayings came to mind: united we stand, divided we fall, and when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Our teachers and staff are good proof of these sayings.

 

Indeed, I hope students can learn from their teachers who sacrificed their family welfare for the students.  I also hope students will remember how to be selfless and think of the common good all the time: from me to we.

 

Once again, many thanks to King Ling Staff.

 

 

Anson Yang