Adieu

(I thought it would be a good time for me to share with you my old notes in the past, as there is nothing new under the sun and I have the same feeling again.)
(https://www.facebook.com/notes/kk-poon/adieu/10150190673374781)

The French teacher was a sentimental person (just like me).

"No no no. Please don't say that." When the first class of my french summer course finished, I went to her and say adieu which she taught us as Goodbye in English. "This is the last word I want to hear. If you say this to me, that means you won't see me again. You are not going to quit right?" I kept saying sorry that time. She smiled to me and continued. "In this case, you can say au revoir to me. That means you will see me tomorrow and we can enjoy the class together!"

I promised to her that I will say it right next time. Moreover, I would attend the class tomorrow morning.

Indeed, there is a striking difference between adieu and au revoir. When we say au revoir we will smile and look forward to the day we will meet and the joy we will have that time. Tears come stream because the day we look for will come and it must be a good ending.

When we say adieu we know that we won't meet again. Life and death surely can tear us apart. But sometimes it's perhaps we too know each other and we hurt each other too much that we need to break up. We had the tears on our face because there used to be joy in the past and also we too understood that there would never be in the future.

I just think of the lines from One by U2:

"We are one

but we are not the same

Well we

Hurt each other and we do it again."

So we say adieu to your love and to yourself.