No more Children's Day

October is coming and so is Children's Day. Kids are a lucky lot because they have a day which is meant for them, a day which they get to stay in bed and not have to wake up early in the morning to go to school. Then there's all the presents that they will receive from their teachers, which invariably include lots of goodies and other worthless little toys that kids amuse themselves with to no end. As is the tradition in local schools here, there will be a celebration the day before a festive holiday or other special days, of which Children's Day happens to be one of them. I remember during my primary school days, the celebration always seemed to include some magic show. Maybe it's just the nature of kids to get terribly excited with magic shows, but during my time, the tricks that the magicians perform, one would have seen them many times over till one knew exactly what's in the bag of tricks that the magician has.

The most exciting part, however, must be the lessons we had on celebration day. That's because all us greedy kids would be eagerly waiting for goodies and presents to be given away by our teachers. I remember there would be those miserly and bo chap teachers who would merely just distribute to everyone a packet of crackers or the like. Usually that's because it is the most convenient way of satisfying the occasion. In army, we call that go through motion - do something purely for the sake that it needs be done.

For those nicer teachers whom we would expect something more substantial, we were usually not disappointed. Most often, it would be the form teacher who will furnish the most number of gifts. Sometimes a huge packet consisting many smaller packets of sweets or crackers would be passed around for everyone to take one. This was a ritual performed every Children's Day, where almost a class of 40 rambunctious kids would sit in the classroom and wait for goodies to be passed around. There would be plenty of chatter, boastful comparisons of presents (like different colour or pattern of the exterior of certain presents) and a persistent air of excitement. Gratitude was not a virtue we understood or had acquired then, and all that was in our mind was the da feng shou (huge harvest). Instead of puzzling over mathematic sums, you fussed over which chocolate or sweet shall you consume first.

Kids are therefore a fortunate lot. And rightly so. For we are all kids only once, and for a short period which we will only fully appreciate and be aware of only after we leave our childhood. I don't know how Children's Day came into existence and neither am i interested to find out. But i wonder if we adults are not deserving of a holiday ourselves? Ok, Adults' Day sounds just way too unappealing. Still, since i have formally and irrevocably relinquished my children status many years ago, i wouldn't mind having something else to replace that. Modern Man needs more holidays. We need to work less and play more!