Reunion with Primary School Classmates

It's really amazing that we can still gather together after so many years! Even though we all have our own lives, it's still the old familiar faces. It brought back the good memories of the old days when we grew up together.

We chatted on many topics, but one thing that I find interesting was the way how we looked back. In my mind, my years in primary school were the golden years, with little pressure and had fun all the time. All I could recall was the time when we played together. I always felt lucky that I joined that primary school, which allowed me to enjoy my childhood, not to mention about the interesting needlework classes that we took.

Obviously, not everyone felt the same way. They reminded me about the homework we need to do, and the exercises we need to take to prepare for the public exam. I still recalled that digusting yellow workbook for Chinese exercise, and the fact that I could memorize the index of the Chinese dictionary because of the frequent lookup of the words. That maybe the reason why I hated Chinese a lot in my secondary school. ;)

I guess one's impression is shaped by one's encounter. Everything in the world comes in relative terms. To me, primary shool was still the best time in my memory, regardless of the amount of work that we did. Nothing can be compared to the amount of time I spent in study during my secondary school years, that I virtually enjoyed very little.

Another interesting aspect was that I found out how stupid I was when I was in Primary school. They were chatting about different classmates on their looks and their background, which I knew almost nothing until now! I'm amazed by how much they could grasp on people. I'm always slow in this. I think I have developed my skill throughout my life, but there is still much more to learn in terms of understanding others and be sensitive to others.

There are not that many friends can keep in touch for such a long time. Thanks God for granting us the friendship. Though it's very old fashion, I still hope that our friendship will last forever.

We all have a dream of gathering more primary school classmates together. See if we can have this dream comes true one day!

Shall we Talk?

We had our annual Lent retreat yesterday, and the topic was "Christians, what have you done to me?". During a breakout session, we were handed a case study on the topic of "what are you willing to do for your parents who are aging and ill"?

From the sharing, I was surprised to find out the varying level of "urges" to do something for one's parents. To my even greater surprise, the first answer came out was about money and care takers.

There are different reasons for one not able to take care of parents. When you start having your own family, the priority for your original family may be lower. Maybe you need to take care of your kids and hence you will not have time to take care of your parents. To me, I have not experienced either of these yet. However, I still have a strong belief that: one can jiggle well with your own and your original families, if you are willing to.

A strong will can make you to anything - I always say.

I guess the main question comes down to whether you are willing or not, but not much as whether you are able or not. I can see a lot of obstacles to block your will do come from the relationship that you have with your parents. If you think that treating your parents well is just an obligation, there's only so much you can do to keep this relationship.

The key question comes down now to how can we build a good relationship with our parents. A relationship is a 2-way effort, and it can't be established with one side. One may argue that the relationship with parents is shaped largely by parents since they could take a more active role when you were young. I think this holds true to a certain extent. Of course, if you were abused, or had very bad experience with your parents, it will take a long time to heal and recover, and to forgive. Otherwise, we can't deny our role in keeping a good relationship with our parents.

There are so many books to teach new parents to be good parents, maybe we should have some books to teach existing children to be good children. We can share stories with our friends easily, and why can't we share those with our parents as well?

Break the ice - we can all take the initiative. Try to share our life with our parents, and I'm sure they are interested in learning. Accept the way they respond. It's hard for them to change. Even they say something you do not enjoy listening, still listen. Be patient.

Come to think about it, there are already quite some good resources out there to remind us:

http://parentswish.com/site01/big.html
......

明月光　為何未照地堂
孩兒在公司很忙　不需喝湯
SHALL WE TALK　斜陽白趕一趟
沉默令我聽得見葉兒聲聲降
......

日夜做 見爸爸 剛好想呻
卻霎眼 看出他 多了皺紋
而他的蒼老感 是從來未覺 太內疚擔心
最心痛是 愛得太遲 有些心意 不可等某個日子
盲目地發奮 忙忙忙其實自私 夢中也習慣 有壓力要我得志最
可怕是 愛需要及時 只差一秒 心聲都已變歷史
忙極亦放肆 見我愛見的相知
要抱要吻要怎麼也好 偏要推說等下一次

Act, before it's too late!

Blest are the poor!?

News is doing a documentary on poor Chinese people that live at the edge of Beijing. I have been to Beijing once and it was such a developed city that I can't imagine there is still a corner in Beijing where people have to carry water for daily use!! This was what I saw in one of the episodes of the original 獅子山下 that was broadcasted in the 70s. That was the time when there were still a lot of squatters in HK and public estates were not that common. So, looks like that part of Beijing is at least 30 years behind.

In spite of the hardship the children are facing, I do see a big difference between the way how they talk as compared to children from well-off families. Extreme poverty induces a big wish of upward striving for the children, that most of them do treasure the opportunity to study as a way of getting out of the poor situation. Children who live comfortably in big house or even in just a better living condition will worry less about that, but focus more on games and leisures.

This is one of the question I kept on debating: should one be rich or poor, if one can choose?

Being in an inadequate state will create motivation for one to strive hard in life, which turns out to be a good thing. For example, I always admire my dad knowing how to cook since he was a kid. That was due to the fact that he has to take care of himself since my grandparents had to work for long hours. One can argue that the kid was poor that he had to take care of himself when he was so young. However, I do see this as opportunity to train oneself.

Another concern of leading a good life is that we know good life may not last forever. If you have been too spoiled, you may lose your ability when hardship comes. For example, if you have been studying in good school and having all the fun classes, it would be a big struck for you if your parents for whatever reason cannot afford you to continue. It's always easier to taste the sweeten after the bitter, but not the reverse.

So, you know my preference.

Pianist

I missed the shuttle today! Well, no use of crying over spilt milk. So, just stayed somewhere to wait for the next one, which was coming over an hour later.

Wireless technology really makes life a lot easier. You can work wherever you want.

As I was doing random things here and there while waiting, some beautiful melodies came. A piano was moved to that corner recently! The soothing music really changed the mood of the evening. As I was listening, I started to feel like the character in pianist - the magic of music shielding you away from the hustles of the world.

Too bad that I don't know how to play piano. It's a gift to generate relaxing music for others in this busy world. :)

Bike to Work

Today (3/22) is the Alternative Transportation Day! I finally did bike all the way from home to work today, which is around 11 miles. Wow! :)

It's really good to go in a group, which encourages you to go faster without much stop. However, it's quite tiring too if you are going with a professional group. Most of the bikers are quite advanced, with all biking gears, and I was always the slowest one. The gear was not working properly when we went uphill, and then my seat got moved higher, causing me sometime to start my bike.

Luckily, we all arrived safe. Only that I twisted my left thumb at the beginning since I tried to change gear wrongly and pressed too hard with my thumb. With the seat raised, I felt once too since it was too hgih for me and I hurt my palm (minor one). Hopefully, I will recover soon.

Going back to the simple days - this is exactly what people nowadays are doing. Biking instead of driving. Eating organic / raw material instead of processed food. It's so interesting to look at the "evolution" of human. From the basic need of survival for food, to clothes and shelter, to ownership of cars and houses, to job satisfaction and achievement, and finally back to just the basic: food, clothes and shelter. I guess without going through the steps, we will never realize we only need very little in this world. It would be so good if all human can have the wisdom to realize this before going through all the troubles. Afterall, it wasted a lot of energy by exploiting the world to go through these steps.