This morning I was reading an
article on re-entry title Reverse Culture shock and I came
across this quote from Victor Hunter, an
American who was reflecting on his last days in England:
“Today I must say goodbye.
Goodbyes are important. Without a meaningful goodbye, an effective closure,
there cannot be a creative hello, a new beginning and hopeful commencement… In
saying goodbye to each other and to current ‘home,’ we are able to greet and
affirm the new hope and anticipation. We affirmed the new journeys yet to be
taken, as individuals and as a family.”
I paused and thought of my ten
months’ journey in Norway that is coming to an end this next Wednesday evening.
Wonderful memories flood my heart and soul. These ten months are full of
definite highs and lows. There are days I felt like taking the next flight home
and there are days I have wished more days can be added to my stay here. I
thought of how I have changed, the friends I have made, the expectations back
home, the difficulty of leaving a place I have called home, the anticipation of
re-entry joys and challenges and what to do next after Hald. As I thought
through all this and in spite of the fear within, I feel confident enough to
say I am ready for the next challenge in life. I do not expect an easy re-entry
but at the very least I am prepared.
If I were to summarize the last
ten months in just one word, I would say transformative.
Transformation like rain or tax has been inevitable for me. I look around at
all the Hald students here, 80 plus from different countries, and I see changes
in them. Most have had changes that seem to have almost permanently registered
in their lives already. Changes abound in thought patterns, convictions, faith,
world views, preferences, love and life. Yet one question remains even as we
say goodbye in the next couple of days: Is the positive change sustainable in
the long? We have to wait and see
Back to my quote above now. Sadly yet inevitably, it is time to say goodbye.
Words fail me at such moments as these and as Celine Dion once sang, “Goodbye's
the saddest word I'll ever hear…Someday you'll say that word and I will cry,
it’ll break my heart to hear you say goodbye.” But this we must do if we are to
move on to the next stage of life: I
must leave. It is time to wrap up the transformative journey with a goodbye
and as I do so, I feel a grin on my face, a broad smile on my cheeks and a
sense of satisfaction in my heart as I look back on the ten months. I almost
sense in my heart an echo of Paul’s words, “I have fought the good
fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
I would not be completely honest if I do not include
the fact that I also sense slight fear in my heart as look ahead. What does the
future hold for me? I do not know but one thing I do know for sure is that I
feel like I am on the edge of a precipice ready to jump off on the next
adventure. Goodbye Norway and I will never forget. 
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