This afternoon I ran into a female colleague on campus. As we started walking in opposite directions after exchanging pleasantries, I became aware of a sweet scent. Was it a fragrance that she was wearing? Then I realised that it was the scent of the sweet osmanthus 桂花.
I looked around. Lo and behold, the sweet osmanthus is blooming again. Just in time for our return to campus. It is as if they know se are coming back, and are timing their bloom to welcome us with their fragrance.
Our return has started but but yet completed. Some of us plunged ahead as soon as we were allowed. But some are still worried about the possible pollutants - on the walls and desks, in the air, in the water, … Now the osmanthus seems to want to assure us that things are back to normal.
How are we going to tell the story? That the campus was attacked and damaged? That operations were interrupted? That even our survival was called into question?
And now - that the whole community, even the osmanthus, is pulling together to repair, rebuild, and renew? What has happened has happened and cannot be changed. The future, however, is up to us.
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