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! °What would you do if you had only one day left to live?! ±
I asked this question to my young students when teaching English this
winter. What were their answers?
! °I would watch television! ! ± the first answer. ! °I would play with
the computer! ! ± the second one. ! °I would play with computer TOO. ! ±
The girl finished her sentence perfectly with a serious smile. Indeed
how cute and innocent that smile was, but how seriously my heart was
hurt. I was too frightened to listen to more answers like that.
Ten years ago, at their age, I had a different answer: I would spend
the last day of my life gazing at the face of my dear grandmother until
I inscribed every detail of it onto my mind.
When grandmother was getting old and weak, my family bought her a
telephone so I could save time and the trouble of traveling to her home
by making phone calls instead. Later we bought her a television so she
could watch modern dramas by herself. Then grandma must have been, we
assumed, very contented and happy.
But I never really knew how grandma felt. She silently passed away
without a word one night. When I heard about her death, a chilling pain
pierced my empty heart. The pain grew even sharper as I tried to remember
in detail exactly how grandma looked and I failed completely! How could
I remember? I had not visited her for ages! ait seemed like a century!
My memories of her dissolved into thin air and leaked away like water.
Even though I have a telephone, can she hear me now?
Even though I might be on television, can she see me now?
Even though I have modern telecommunications, can she still communicate
with me now?
With all these ! °tele! ±s, I was powerless.
Don! t people just love the word of ! °tele! ±, which means far away.
Indeed this is how modern technology has changed our world. But please
don! t forget this other word with ! °tele! ±: telepathy: which refers
to human beings! inborn ability to connect to our loved ones. Our minds
are supposed to read each other! s minds; our hearts are supposed to
feel each other! s hearts ! a and fulfill these without any forms of
tool!