Lessons of life, taught, by mother nature, observe, and learn something!!! Translated…
In England’s center, not too far from home, in the campus of the university, there was, a lake, by the lake, there were some trees, very picturesque. The reflections from the lake was always enticing, it’d made people wondered what’s real, what’s fantasy. Everybody needs a lake that’s one’s own, to reflect in peace, to see oneself.
I’d gone to the lakes, in search of a herd of ducks every summer, like it was, a mecca for me. That day, I didn’t get to see the flock of ducks, but instead, I’d, bumped into a flock of geese, and among them was one that could stand for a long time on its one leg.
I’d observed it from afar for a very long time, in the end, I’d decided, to go up and say “hi” to it, and, it must’ve, misconstrued my intentions, saw me as an invader, it’d, tilted its neck toward me, clearly, defending HIS territory. But in the process, it’d continued, to stand on its one leg, such, a stubborn goose it is.
At precisely the same time, I’d bumped into an Asian girl, strolling alone by the lake, I’d nodded and acknowledged her, guessed, that she was probably from China, here, for the summer activities offered by the university. At the beginning, she’d told me she was Japanese, that she was visiting with a group from college to learn English. We’d chatted in English, after she’d learned that I was from Taiwan, she’d started speaking to me in Chinese. I was shocked at how fluent she was in Chinese, she’d disclosed, that her father was from China, that her mother was of Japanese descent, born in China, that she’d gone back to Japan at age twenty-seven.
I’d invited her and her classmates to come to my house, she’d told me, that she’d never told any of her Japanese classmates of her Chinese origin, because during her elementary years, she’d witnessed a classmate who was bullied, because his parents were from China; and her father pretended to be Japanese, and the whole family just, went along with it.
Some assumptions came to me, perhaps, because of how her elementary classmate was bullied, and it wasn’t her Chinese origin, but this young lady had, been mistaken, felt that she was, discriminated against because of her descent. If this was so then, a misunderstanding in childhood, can haunt you for the rest of your lives. And if, back then, she’d stood up for her classmate from China, she may have, gotten bullied along with the classmate too, or, would she be able to, help BREAK the stereotypes of her Japanese classmates? And I’d also known, that these second-guesses won’t do any good, toward racisms, there’s always, a ton of silence, and helplessness.
I’d, looked at this young woman with big eyes before me, quietly told her story, although, there’s, that hint of shyness about her, but I’d felt, that she was, very brave too.
I couldn’t help but get distracted, and glanced over at the goose standing on just one leg I just saw, it’d still stood there, with its, one leg, but looking into the distance, with great confidence. I knew, that the reason why he’d stood like so wasn’t due to some stubbornness, but because of a biological need, that it’d, needed to stand like so. There are ways that other living organisms survived by, it’s the same way, with all interpersonal relationships as well.
One this day, I saw this goose, along with this female college student, these two unrelated living beings I’d encountered, had reminded me of the same things.
So, this just showed, how much you can, take from nature, nature has a way, of teaching us lessons that we need to learn, in very subtle ways, like how this individual encountered the goose, along with this young woman in her college years.