" .......... Please do not worry or feel despair. Taiwan cannot afford to be without an opposition voice or be without checks and balances. ............
Tonight, I understand that everyone must have feelings of sorrow, and if you really do feel that way, let these feelings come out. You can cry, but do not feel discouraged. You can feel sorrow, but never give up because tomorrow we must be brave just like we have been in the last four years, and fill our hearts with hope. .............................................. "
I am sure many of us are familiar with the “….. For Dummies” books and at some point might have even bought one or more of its book series. I have a few of them.
The first book of the “For Dummies” I purchased was in the early 1990s. It was called “DOS For Dummies”. I bought the book because I was just starting to experience my very first “personal computer”, Apple IIe, and I needed instructions as how to use the “Disk Operating System”.
As a matter of fact, “DOS For Dummies” was the first publication of the “For Dummies” series by IDG Books in November 1991, written by Dan Gookin, an editor for a computer magazine.
Before I bought this book, I was somewhat hesitant as I did not feel comfortable with the book title and did not want to be classified as one of the “dummy” readers. But after I read the introduction of the book, I found that it was the perfect reference book for me.
The introduction said:
“Welcome to DOS for Dummies, a book with 80 percent less fat than other books on DOS. In fact, the idea here is simple: You’re a smart person, but a DOS dummy – and have absolutely no intention of ever becoming a DOS wizard. You don’t want to learn anything. You don’t want to be bore by technical details or background fodder. All you need to know is a single answer to that one tiny question, and then you’ll close the book and be on with your life. This is the book you are looking for. …………………… .”
Each child has different interests, talents, styles of learning and personalities, and therefore they choose to pursue a different career later on in life.
Our older daughter was a well rounded kid, but did not have any particular ambition when she was young. One day, one of her middle school teachers asked her what she would like to be in term of her future career, she simply replied: “I think my parents expect me to become a doctor.” She is now a pediatrician.
The one in the middle, our younger daughter, liked to read and write when she was in the grade school. She said she would like to be a teacher. Later in high school, she thought a social worker could be a good career choice, but then finally, she went to law school after college and now works in the legal field.
The youngest, our son, was good with numbers and liked mathematics. Eventually he chose to pursue computer science and became a programmer working in the “Silicon Valley”.
All our three children have different careers and expertise, which provide an excellent opportunity for them to consult one another in their lives.
When our daughters, as well as we the parents, encountered some issues with computers, our son was right there to give help on the phone, or even fix the problem through his “remote control capacity”. Our younger daughter once noticed some unusual rash on her baby’s body, she took a photo and sent it to her sister via her cell phone for advice. When the family needed help on legal matters, our younger daughter was usually the first one to seek consultation.
Of course, my wife is our children’s best resource when it comes to the matter of everyday living. They know that their mother knows practically “everything” and always gives the “answers”. That can be as simple as advice on purchasing certain brands of soap, how to cook fish, or as complicated as how to do alter clothes.
Over the holiday season, our children came home with their families and I treasured every single moment of being together. The family reunion also evoked memories of times long since past.
The scene of my grandson and his uncle (my son) in the front yard of our house playing “throwing and catching” a football (junior size) brought back a familiar memory. While seeing them play together, I began to sustain the illusion that my son was I, and by simple transposition, that my grandson was my son. I noticed the way my son guided my grandson was just the same as I used to do with my son, and I saw my grandson respond with the same gesture and expression as my son did, a quarter of century ago.
At this moment I seemed to be living a dual existence.
This experience reminds me of my other writing that I posted a year and a half ago:
Living A Dual Existence (Tuesday, July 20, 2010)
In his notable essay “Once More to the Lake" (August 1941), Elwyn Brooks White (American writer 1899-1985) described a“creepy” sensation when he returned with his son to the lake in Maine, where his father used to rent a camp and took him there for the month of August along about 1904.
“When I got back there, with my boy, and we settled into a campnear a farmhouse and into the summertime I had known,.......lying in bed the first morning, smelling the bedroom and hearing the boy sneak quietly out and go off along the shore in boat. I began to sustain the illusion that he was I, and therefore, by simple transposition, that I was my father......... I seemed to be living a dual existence. I would be in the middle of simple act, I would be picking up a bait box or laying down a table fork, or I would be saying something, and suddenly it would be not I but my father who was saying the words or making the gesture............. .”
A couple of weeks ago, I shared the same experience as Elwyn White did while we were visiting Yosemite Valley. When our children were young, we used to take them to Yosemite Valley, and this time, we revisited our favorite sites with our children and grandchildren, and we all had a wonderful time. While watching our grandsons crawling on the rocks, touching the water and chasing the small creatures by the creek, closely and carefully monitored by their parents, the same image of our children many years ago instantly came to my mind. I even inadvertently called my son’s name while trying to advise my grandson to be careful by the water.
At that moment, I seemed to be living a dual existence.
