How Time Flies..or how it moves with natural progression through the ages
The sudden influx of blog posts made me want to add my two cents worth to the stack. To borrow Nik's words, it's like a war. There's one war, but many war stories, many perspectives.
Yesterday after prize-giving, and the seniors one by one took their leave and made their 'farewell speeches', it felt like time had slowed down to savour the bittersweet moment. People cried and people laughed, but I believe in all our hearts we ached with the sense that time was slipping away so quickly. It's all over so fast, written on the pages of history so fast, and the page has turned already. Much as we often feel as though the present experience is more intense than anything else we've ever experienced, it always ends up fading into the chronicles of time. History eats up everything; we become but part of the legacy of the AC Canoeing and Dragonboat Club. We will leave our mark, yes, but our presence will disappear and we will move on.
And so it is such. That the juniors will now move up to take our places, as it has been since the beginning of time. Generations will come, live out their time, and new generations will take their places. It's the grand scheme of movement in history, of progression (or regression?). Sometimes when we breathe the essence of living in the moment, we forget the larger picture, that we are but part of a bigger timeline. Thus we will leave, but time moves on as it will, we will each have a turn in moulding the club's character. Vitai Lampada. The Torch of Life. We will pass on that torch to the juniors now to live out their time, and they will pass it on to their juniors, and so on.
Just the same with the coaches. Nik has now passed the torch to Kenneth. And I suppose I have to articulate what I've always felt about this coach; make my tribute to him. Again, when everything is said and done, it's always easier to overlook the glitches in history, the times when things weren't so great. It's always our tendency to gloss over the ugly areas, blow up the pretty ones, and make some 'feel-good' statement to close the chapter. I'm not going to say that Nik was the perfect coach. Personally I had some moments when I imagined myself beating him up (I can fantasize, can't I?), some moments when I felt that I hated him, other times I thought he was obtuse and thick-headed. His way of saying "I'm almost there." when he was obviously still at home, his blunt manner of speaking that cuts to the core.. how can you define a coach like that? We always had communication problems with him, and problems of trust. But I think our expectations of him were too much. He had a rock-solid philosophy, he had passion, he had principles and values. And for that, he had my respect. Deep, heart-felt respect for his tenacious hold on his beliefs, even when they were threatened left, right, center.
Nik has left his imprint on me, in an undefinable way. A teacher never knows where his influence ends. I eventually began to put my faith in him, let go of my doubts, and trusted his judgement. Because it takes two hands to clap - one person trying at one end is never enough if the other side refuses to accept. So anyway, I guess I just want to say that I am grateful, at the end of the day, for everything that Nik is, for all that he has given me. He is a human, with flaws and all, but most of all, his heart is a coach's heart. That is perfection enough.
Okay I've said most of what I wanted to say, and you guys reading this are probably tired of hearing me talk of the past the past the past like an old war veteran. So shall we now look forward, hm? After all time must go on, trainings must continue, and we must all get on with our lives. Puaycher said this yesterday, that she has given two years to canoeing, her everything in those two years. But those two years is enough, and she must give her time to something else. I think of it as like we're allocated two years to hold the tag 'ACJC canoeist'..then we take it off and become ourselves again. (or are we still ourselves?) Juniors, it's your time now.
Yesterday after prize-giving, and the seniors one by one took their leave and made their 'farewell speeches', it felt like time had slowed down to savour the bittersweet moment. People cried and people laughed, but I believe in all our hearts we ached with the sense that time was slipping away so quickly. It's all over so fast, written on the pages of history so fast, and the page has turned already. Much as we often feel as though the present experience is more intense than anything else we've ever experienced, it always ends up fading into the chronicles of time. History eats up everything; we become but part of the legacy of the AC Canoeing and Dragonboat Club. We will leave our mark, yes, but our presence will disappear and we will move on.
And so it is such. That the juniors will now move up to take our places, as it has been since the beginning of time. Generations will come, live out their time, and new generations will take their places. It's the grand scheme of movement in history, of progression (or regression?). Sometimes when we breathe the essence of living in the moment, we forget the larger picture, that we are but part of a bigger timeline. Thus we will leave, but time moves on as it will, we will each have a turn in moulding the club's character. Vitai Lampada. The Torch of Life. We will pass on that torch to the juniors now to live out their time, and they will pass it on to their juniors, and so on.
Just the same with the coaches. Nik has now passed the torch to Kenneth. And I suppose I have to articulate what I've always felt about this coach; make my tribute to him. Again, when everything is said and done, it's always easier to overlook the glitches in history, the times when things weren't so great. It's always our tendency to gloss over the ugly areas, blow up the pretty ones, and make some 'feel-good' statement to close the chapter. I'm not going to say that Nik was the perfect coach. Personally I had some moments when I imagined myself beating him up (I can fantasize, can't I?), some moments when I felt that I hated him, other times I thought he was obtuse and thick-headed. His way of saying "I'm almost there." when he was obviously still at home, his blunt manner of speaking that cuts to the core.. how can you define a coach like that? We always had communication problems with him, and problems of trust. But I think our expectations of him were too much. He had a rock-solid philosophy, he had passion, he had principles and values. And for that, he had my respect. Deep, heart-felt respect for his tenacious hold on his beliefs, even when they were threatened left, right, center.
Nik has left his imprint on me, in an undefinable way. A teacher never knows where his influence ends. I eventually began to put my faith in him, let go of my doubts, and trusted his judgement. Because it takes two hands to clap - one person trying at one end is never enough if the other side refuses to accept. So anyway, I guess I just want to say that I am grateful, at the end of the day, for everything that Nik is, for all that he has given me. He is a human, with flaws and all, but most of all, his heart is a coach's heart. That is perfection enough.
Okay I've said most of what I wanted to say, and you guys reading this are probably tired of hearing me talk of the past the past the past like an old war veteran. So shall we now look forward, hm? After all time must go on, trainings must continue, and we must all get on with our lives. Puaycher said this yesterday, that she has given two years to canoeing, her everything in those two years. But those two years is enough, and she must give her time to something else. I think of it as like we're allocated two years to hold the tag 'ACJC canoeist'..then we take it off and become ourselves again. (or are we still ourselves?) Juniors, it's your time now.
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