it is all in the faces

Well they said a picture is worth a thousand words. And I was looking at the colourful picture of Lui Tuck Yew and the six students in the Straits Times yesterday. One whole page devoted to the topic of National Education and a 5R full colour photo of the participants right in the middle. I skipped the wordings, too wordy and a topic too familiar to read it in detail. What fascinated me was the facial expression on the faces of the students and their body language. Hanisah Maskon said, 'What's Lui talking about?' Hers was a quiet attentive look. Next was this red shirt guy, Benjamin Lin, with his body leaning away from Lui as if saying better to keep your distance. And Gayle Goh, her fist in her mouth and a look that said she was in Orchard Road or somewhere out there. She was so far away though sitting so near to Lui. Tan Yee Ling was listening, but you cannot miss the scepticism in her expression. Robert Straughan was more interested in the chemistry of the half empty glass of ice cream or milk shake. He was trying to guess which was which. And Muhammad Nabil, the bright one from RI was perhaps the only one still engaged in the conversation. And of course, Lui was the one doing the preaching, or talking. Was there a generation gap or were they talking about something world's apart?