And So I am Thankful

Someone has said, “Foolish men think of the Past, wise men think of the Present, and evil men think of the Future.” Whether a person is wise or evil, then, only Time can tell. It’s not that I am implying anything – I don’t necessarily agree with the quote even. Let me allow myself to be foolish a bit and think of the Past today so that I can be thankful. It’s Thanksgiving after all.

I am thankful that I used to be able to enjoy some family time during holidays. I still remember those Thanksgivings when I could expect some good turkey, sweet potatoes, and green beans. Best food ever: full of love, joy, and tastiness.

I am thankful that I used to have a person to love and to be loved. Isn’t Love the most precious thing, for me to have someone to be waited for, some place to fall back to when all else wrongs, some hope to lean on to when the future is clouded with vast chaos?

And I am thankful for every other good thing that used to happen in the Past. Joyous time when hanging out with friends, self-fulfilling occasions when important things accomplished, and peaceful moments when sitting alone on the grass under the red, windy sky. And yes, I learned to love the rain, too! Rain was happiness. It may still is, because I still remember.

How does one define what a happy life is? To me a good life is the one which has many good moments in it. Some family moment, some good friendships, some achievements, one love. And maybe that’s quite enough for a life to be entitled as “happy”. Because of it, it doesn’t really matter to me how tough this current life is, or how depressing the future can be. I already have my happy life, and I will be thanking God for it forever.

“Một lần yêu thôi về thắp nến linh hương trong lòng

Và ngồi hát ca bềnh bồng…”

Happy Thanksgiving to you too.

---------------------------

Related topics:

Dark and Cold

"You Want to See Miracles?"

A.R.K.

Comments

How Many Words in This List That You Know?

How are you doing on your readings in general and more specifically in developing your vocabularies? Recently I started reading a book for my Finance class called The End of Wall Street by Roger Lowenstein. In the very first chapter of the book – a short 6-page prologue, there were many words that I did not know, and I am listing them here: destitute somnolent bulwark scrutinize (to) prick quiescent laudatory salient fervent (adj) frothy parlance umbilical (cord) placate carnage plenitude opiate dictum stupendous I was so surprised to see so many new words in such a small amount of pages! How is this Roger Lowenstein guy? You would think that while reading a finance book, the only words you would stumble upon are technical terms or lingos. Or maybe I am just bad. How many words in the list above that you already know?

Fei's Mooncakes

Fei is a Chinese guy at work who is socially awkward. He does not hang out with others, nor does he talk to anyone beyond “Good morning” and “How are you.” It’s not that Fei doesn’t want to: he’s unable to. But he would bring food to us as gifts – Chinese cakes, Chinese candies, Chinese snacks – for Lunar New Years and other Chinese festivals. That’s what people do in Asia as a way to maintain relationships. A social obligation. The Mid-Autumn Festival is near. No one at work besides me, another Asian, knows about this festival. Fei brings mooncakes, a type of round-shaped pastries, to work and gives each of us a box. The packaging looks gorgeous: a red square box with gold patterns depicting a lady dancing next to the moon. Inside is eight round pastries, about two inches in diameter. “Thank you very much!”, I say, as Fei hands me a box. Every day since, Fei comes over to my office and asks if I have tried the mooncakes. I have not, but I will soon, I tell him, feeling slightly guilty

The Ineffectiveness of English

I have interacted with English since kindergarten, and for the last four years I have been living in the US, using solely English for daily communications. Despite my effort of continual self-improving, I can’t quite understand the language. There have been explanations, of course, such as how it’s not my first language, how cultures and traditions get in place… Only recently, it strikes me with a more understandable reason: English is an ineffective language. There are so many disadvantages of English. First of all is the way one person talks to another. You can only use “I” and “you” no matter if the person you’re talking to is an earthworm or a high king. The same with “he”, “she”, “it”, and “they”. All the languages that I have ever associated with, which are French, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Cantonese, they have different words to address different people. I believe this should be the way to talk, since each person requires to be treated with respect, order, and

Bluebellia

Search This Blog