Convocation - Ah Gor

Arrived a bit late, but spaces didn't fill up yet.

This post was a long time coming. Even though convocation wasn't, right after I did a post about my parents, I knew I wanted to post about my brother as well. I just needed an event to allow me to actually take photos of him without physically asking him. Cuz that's how we roll, we don't ask, we just DO.

Now I'm kind of jealous, is there something like this for McMaster?

The event, which happened on Saturday, October 16, 2010, was not only my brother's convocation, but also a first "thing" for my family. He becomes the first ever "Ma" to ever receive a University degree, in ANYTHING. So if you can imagine from my family point of view, this is kind of big.

A photo in front of his University banner before the ceremony gets started

I remember asking my dad how come my parents never pressured us to BECOME something, BECOME someone. They taught us right from wrong, to donate, to offer help when people needed. To be streets smart and to be downright caring, but why not to become something big? I asked him only because I know of parents who always pressure their sons and daughters to become a lawyer, or doctor, or something that is highly regarded in today's society. My dad's answer was this.

"It wasn't in your blood"

Now before you judge, it's not as bad as you think really. He added on, 

"I'd rather you enjoy a happy life, with everything you need to be stress-less, than carry the burden of studying to become a doctor, and then the burden of being a doctor."

So you could probably understand how proud I was when seeing my brother cross that stage. For the longest time It was hard to shake what my dad said to me but at least now there's a proven point that it is in our blood (or at least, my brother's).

A rare moment(for me) captured in a photo, my brother smiling.

I've always been kind of proud of my brother actually, regardless of opinions that I might've slipped out of my mouth. He's always had a good control and balance of everything in his life. His hobbies, his school, his family, his social life, his love life, and his work. Dear god, I'm still struggling to find any sort of a balance, how did he do it?

But i guess all of that got shadowed by the fact that we never got along after middle school. I never looked at him that impressively until recently because our values are completely different. But instead of being mature and accepting and adapting to them, I instead fought with him. We officially become 2 completely different people living in the same home, like 2 strangers bound by 4 walls. For the longest time, I felt like the only relation I had with him was our names, and our blood.

In grade 7, I was asked who I looked up to. And I honestly said "No one". I didn't want to be like anyone, I didn't want to shadow anyone. It was during those years where I wanted to be unique and somewhat different, kind of a leader, instead of a follower. There were years where I really tried to be different than my brother.

But things have changed, time has passed, and ironically the person I look up to most these days is my brother.



My favourite photo of the whole entire set.

-Canon Ma