The Graduates

Walking to my bus stop after my stats test this morning, I was greeted with the rare sound of bagpipes and drums. I looked towards the general direction of the sound and watched as a young school band in checkered kilts emerged from the corner where the road meets the park.

Following them marched a seemingly endless train of lecturers, each in their Sunday best, covered with their graduation gowns lined in pink and "special" caps.

I didn't even know it was graduation today.

Like many other passer-bys, I could not help but stop and watch as the distinguished mass of black and pink marched forward. The display moved me in a way I can not explain.

As the train of lecturers turned the corner and the sound of the bagpipes faded away into the background, hundreds and hundreds of Graduates streamed onto the road. The curb became littered with boyfriends and girlfriends and sisters and mothers and fathers and friends with cameras and video cameras, each eagerly waiting for their beloved to march past so the moment could be captured.

There were Graduates of all nationalities and ages. Graduates with flowers and teddy bears and balloons, and leis and shell necklaces. Graduates singing and dancing and laughing, as they passed me by.

Proudly marching into the future.

They turned the heads of everyone walking down the street. Everywhere, people stopped to look. What were they thinking, I wondered. Were they remembering the good old days, when they used to be at university. Were they regretting the fact that they had never gone to university, because they had given up, or had never had, the chance to do so. Were they thinking that someday, that was where they would be. Were they turning to the Graduates to, for a brief moment, share in their excitement and glory so that they could forget everything else that was going on around them, and in this crazy world.

All of a sudden, I wanted to cry. This is where I would be in six months. I wondered if anyone would give me flowers and balloons and teddybears. I wondered if friends and family with cameras would be running after me to see if they could get the perfect shots.

I wondered if I would be as happy, and as excited, as they were. I wondered how they could so joyfully embrace the future, when I found it so hard to even think about tomorrow.

Would I ever feel what they were feeling? Would I ever understand it?

The last of the Graduates disappeared around the corner as I climbed onto the bus.

Despite everything, the world must go on. It is a strange, sad place.

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