It was not to crown a glorious relationship. Far from it. The enmity between governments and students is eternal. Students see everything wrong with governments. Governments see everything wrong with students. But on that day, the walls of Student Centre reverberated with thunderous acclaim. Tearful eyes strived to witness, one more time, the fleeting presence of a man they had seen a thousand times before and would likely see again. One whose government they often berated, whose wrath they had borne and on whose decades long service they now reflected with profound gratitude.
The visit attested to a unifying national consciousness. That “we only differed so much because we all loved our country so much”, and that our differences did not subtract from our hopes for a country so dear. Across the rancorous political divide, we all stood in awe and admiration. The eloquence of Edmund Burke alone would have captured the respect and the adulation that heralded his entrance and prevailed until his exit. “A thousand swords would have leapt out of their scabbards, to avenge even a look that threatened him with insult”.
