Turning Point

For years I have kept a folder (binder) where I preserve many of my
old documents, which include personal paper items that I consider
to be of historical significance. Once in a great while, I would
take it down from the shelf and randomly flip through it.

The other day, for some reason, the two old airline oneway tickets
inside the folder dated June 22, 1972 particularly caught my
attention. They were a CAL (China Airlines)#002 ticket from Taipei
to San Francisco and AA (American Airlines) ticket with the final
destination to Buffalo, N.Y.

In our life, there are always many turning points. Each turning point
involves a choice, a decision to be made. It is a decisive moment,
although it may or may not be at our best. These are times and places
where we can make a choice that will affect the rest of our life.

There have been many turning-points in my life and I consider most
of them were at my best. The choice I had made back on June 22,
1972 was one of them.


Yeh Tze

妾似朝陽又照君 蓬門今始為君開

(Women in Art)


妾似朝陽又照君 蓬門今始為君開

ZWC is one of my NTUMC1968 classmates. He is multi-talented.

Besides being a physician, he is also a guitarist, music composer,
song writer and singer. His natural good humor often accompanied
his talent.

During our internship year at NTUH, he had a large picture print
placed on the wall in front of his study desk in his dorm room.
It was a 美女照, totally nude! He wrote a 對聯 and attached them
on each side of the picture:

右聯 妾似朝陽又照君
左聯 蓬門今始為君開

"妾似朝陽又照君", every day and night, in front of this "美女", he did
his study, played his guitar, composed piece of music, or sang his
favorite songs. He was a happy man, and a multi-talented medical
student.


Yeh Tze

我手寫我口

Write what you think, “想什麼, 寫什麼”

During my middle school years at 建中, 王藍, a Chinese writer, author
of the novel "藍與黑", was once invited to our school to give us a talk
on “writing”. He spoke to more than 3000 students in the school's
大操場 under the bright sun. Honestly, I did not get much of what he
had said except the first sentence in his opening statement. He said
that writing was very easy, you just “write what you think”, or in his
own real words “想什麼, 寫什麼”.

After that talk, I thought it should not be hard to write if we just
write what we think, not what we are told to, or what we need to,
or how we are instructed to, like writing an essay according to
what the teacher would expect, such as "起承轉合"

Then, in the high school, we had this 國文 teacher 王瓊珊, who was
said to be the top one graduate in his class from 師大 Chinese
Literature. He wanted us to write a good essay and recommended
to us a book called “東萊博議”. I bought one copy from 正中書局, but
then noticed the sample writings were too "八股". There were too
many "子曰", "嗚呼" and, of course, "之乎者也". I thought I would
rather write with the new free style that 胡適 had long promoted.

黃遵憲, a writer and poet of 晚清 and 民初 period, had also encouraged
people to “write what you think”. He once wrote a poem, which has
been quite popular:

我手寫我口, 古豈能拘牽.
即今流俗語, 我若登簡編.
五千年後人, 驚為古爛斑.

In "我手寫我口", 口 means heart, mind or thought.
So, I write what I think in my "The Yehtze File”


Yeh Tze

It's A Man's World After All

漢樂府 〈上山採蘼蕪〉

上山採蘼蕪，下山遇故夫。長跪問故夫：「新人復何如？」
「新人雖言好，未若故人姝，顏色類相似，手爪不相如。」
「新人從門入，故人從閣去。」 「新人工織縑，故人工織素。
織縑日一疋，織素五丈餘。將縑來 比素，新人不如故。」

I came across this poem a few times in the past, and each time after
reading it, I feel the need to say something and “打抱不平” for the
woman in the poem.

The women in ancient Chinese culture had tough life. They were
humbled and often humiliated before men. They were told to follow
the Confucius rule, “三從 四德 “.

As you can see in this ancient Chinese classical poem, this woman was
likely “divorced” or “休了” by her husband and became a “ 棄婦 “,
due to the fact that she was unable to bear an offspring for him.
Sadly enough, she was still trying to seek the “fertility” remedy
“ 蘼蕪 “in the mountain in order to become a “real woman” and thus
to be accepted by the society again.

More sadly, when she happened to bump into her ex-husband (故夫)
on her way home (冤家路狹), she even had to “ 長跪 “ in front of him,
and humbly asked about his “ 新人 “. And this man, who had
obviously treated his spouses like slave labers and indulged his
selfish “pride”, and compared their work skills and work products
instead of thinking about their souls and feelings.

The following are my suggestions to the woman in the poem:

1). There was no need for her to make effort to “上山“ for the purpose
of seeking “ 蘼蕪 “.

2). She could have just avoided the direct contact with him, or simply
said “ Hi “ to him as a courtesy.

Or

3). She could, like some of the modern women nowadays, slap his face
( 嘗個大巴掌 ) and teach him a lesson. “長跪問” 不如 “賞巴掌”


After all, in the ancient man’s world,

“ 但見新人笑，哪聞舊人哭。”

It was a man's man's world after all.

It was a sad culture then !


Yeh Tze