Achieving success - the fruits of a group effort
I have been reading to arthur waley's wonderful Chinese Poems this week. I particularly enjoy the following poem as it illustrates the various groups who provide support and thus contribute to a student's achievements: family, friends and the application of the individual. The humble tone of the narrator is a joy. After Passing the Exam - Po Chui I (800ad) For ten years I never left my books; I went up… and won unmerited praise. My high place I do not much prize; The joy of my parents will first make me proud. Fellow students, six or seven men, See me off as I leave the City gate. My covered couch is ready to drive away; Flutes and strings blend their parting tune. Hopes achieved dull the pains of parting; Fumes of wine shorten the long road… Shod with wings is the horse of him who rides On a Spring day the road that leads to home. Despite having been written over two thousand years so, there is a freshness and a sincerity in this poem which still resonat