Just as last year, at the end of March, I received Jean-Pascal Laffaille's Christmas card which was sent last December from Paris. That means the card had toured the world for three months before it reached me in Shanghai.
I didn't want to investigate any reasons behind this delay but opened the envelope with a smile.The card is like a postcard but not exactly the case. The cover photo, looks like some place inAsia, was photographed by a French photographer.(Unfortunately, the caption of the photo was printed in French and I'm all Greek to it.) What surprising me was inside the card——the greetings from Susan, written in CHINESE.
Normally, when Jean-Pascal wrote me an email or sent me a card, he usually put Susan's name ahead of his when he signed his name at last and Susan often did not write anything to me personally. Therefore I was a bit surprised that this time, Susan wrote to me herself, and furthermore, in Chinese. A Chinese idiom thus jumped in my mind——it never rains but it pours.
Susan is English and is in her sixties now. We got to know each other in 2006 in Hong Kong, on the occasion of our company's annual budget meeting. She traveled together with JPL who was Regional president of the company that I worked with at the time. His management covered Asia and Europe. I was told by my direct manager Susan was JPL's girl-friend.
I remembered once JPL mentioned to me that Susan was learning Chinese, for which I thought perhaps she just wanted to kill time. During our last meeting in Shanghai about two years ago, Susan told me herself and I realized she was seriousin learning Chinese. She said she attended Chinese class twice a week. In my understanding, some westerners are curious about Chinese culture, such as the ancient architecture, clothing, dramas and people. Learning Chinese is a totally different matter, of course. Apart from“Ni Hao”and“Xie Xie”, how on earth are they capable of listening and speaking this difficult language, let alone writing it. Who would want to take the trouble?
For sure, it would be fantastic if we can learn something out of interest like Susan, without driven by success or fame. Susan told me that she loves China and Chinese things as they are so mysterious to her and so hard for her to understand. Learning Chinese made her believe that one day she could read Chinese books in their original Chinese version instead in translation.
Looking at myself or people around us, we normally learn something not because of interest. We judge and assess first in order to see if it is all worthwhile or beneficial; if not, we'll give up. Young people usually are endowed with good learning skills and they probably can obtain certificates of different qualifications with relative ease, such as language, accountancy, IT operation and a computer programming languages. Without any doubt that these certificates provide them greater opportunities in their career path. While whether they really enjoy what they've learnt is anybody's guess.
What my daughter said to me disappointed me, "I didn't like to study those subjects in the school. I did it nonetheless because I had no choice." I guess this is the main reason that she still has a lot to improve at school.
We were told before that "interestisourfirst teacher." This is because, driven by interest, we will pursue knowledge in order to satisfy our curiosity. Hence I doubt that those earned many certificates really learntas much as it seems. Those knowledge that theyhave practiced might be better mastered. Those not practiced would be forgotten soon. But only those learned with passion will not be forgotten.
I remembered Susan once said, "I love travelling in China, and I wish one day I could communicate with the local people there. I'd like to know them better and hopefully I wish I could read Chinese books one day."
Compare to myself, I felt a bit embarrassed as I usually stop doing something once I don't think it's useful. But one thing which makes me happy and I love to do very often is writing essays. It's perhaps just as much as how Susan likes about learning Chinese. I write because I want to write. I love to do it. I don't care much about how many people would read them, and even I don't earn any income from writing the seessays. I don't fail to enjoy doing it.
We sometimes see those old people who pursue their interest and hobbies, and they travel, photograph, sing, dance and read. They are gray haired but with high spirit. Talking to them as if talking to young people if only one ignores their age. They do sports regularly, surf the internet, communicate with friends and family across the globe through mobile phone apps and they travel every year.
Everytime when I think of these people, I can't help smiling. One of my former Australia colleagues once said to me, "Ageing is not fun, in fact it's full of sadness.”It could be true, especially when you look at your sick parents.
I know we can't predict our passing, and I understand that ageing is not fun when our body is gradually deteriorating day by day until we become very sick. However, when we are still healthy, we should really pursue our interest with passion and enthusiasm, not for anybody else, but only for ourselves. So we won't regret when we leave this world.
Going back to Susan, she is not young any more. Although I know that it's difficult for her to learn Chinese in France as she will have few chances to practice, and it's hard to say when she would be complete to read Chinese books, her determination of studying Chinese is admirable. She is good example for everybody, like you and me who is ageing. Is ageing miserable? Of course not. Look at Susan, she seems fully engaged everyday. She carries out good annual plans including studying, travelling, visiting friends and spending quality time with family members. She does these things because she loves to do. So does JPL.
We will all age one day. How you want to age depends on what you attain, as well as your approach. I shall choose what like Susan has been doing, indulging on something I really like no matter how old I am. Then I'm sure I will be happy everyday.
变老不好玩，但可随心......
和往年一样，我在今年三月底收到了Jean-Pascal Laffaille寄来的贺卡，是去年十二月底由巴黎寄出的。所以这封信不知在地球的哪些地方“巡游”了三个月，才寄达我手中。
我想不出个中逻辑，但打开信，却不禁笑了起来。卡片像明信片又不是。那是一张折叠卡，封面一帧照片像亚洲的什么地方，但是由法国摄影家拍摄的。（可惜里面关于照片的说明是印的法语，我一点不认识，心里挺遗憾的。）令我惊讶的是，打开竟然赫然有一行端正的中文字，苏珊自己写给我的。
通常，Jean-Pascal Laffaille在给我的邮件或者贺卡中会把苏珊的名字放在他的落款之前，而这次，苏珊亲自写了话，而且用中文。当时我脑海中马上跳出“不鸣则已，一鸣惊人”这个俗语。
苏珊是英国人，六十多岁吧。我2006年在香港遇见她，那时我还在工作，是去香港开年度预算会议，她和Jean-Pascal Laffaille（当时他是管欧亚的总裁）一起来了亚洲。我的上司和我说过，苏珊是大老板的女朋友。
我记起JPL和我提到过苏珊在学中文，我当时没有在意，心想这也许就是有闲阶级的人消磨时间吧。直到两年前和他俩在上海见面，苏珊自己又和我说起，我才知她是认真的。她说她每个星期上两节课。在我的印象里，有些西方人会对中国文化有一点好奇，对诸如中国的古建筑、中式服装、戏剧和中国人有些兴趣，但学习中文，怕是完全不同了。除了“你好”，“谢谢”，他们究竟怎么能听或者说这种很难的语言，更逞论写呢。所以，谁会去自找麻烦?
但是苏珊学中文，是很了不起的事情，因为她不带丝毫的功利性，只是喜欢。她告诉我，她很爱中国的一些东西，她感到神秘，也很难理解。学习中文让她相信也许有一天她自己能直接阅读中文的书籍，而不是读译本。
回想我自己和身边的人，大多不是因为喜爱去学习，我们首先判断值不值得学，有没有好处，如果不值得就不学。年轻人学习能力强，手上证书一大堆，什么语言、会计、IT操作等计算机语言，在职场也许很有用。但这些对他们而言是否是真的喜爱，就不好说了。
我女儿说过一句让我深感失望的话：“我很不喜欢学校里的学习科目，但是没有办法还得要学。”因为没有兴趣和喜爱怎么能真正学好呢？
以前总说“兴趣是第一老师”，因为兴趣导向而学习知识是好奇心满足的驱使。所以我并不认为那些证书一大堆的人一定真正学好了，能用上的知识还行，用不上的很快忘了。只有真正喜爱的才忘不了。
我记得苏珊曾对我说：“我喜欢来中国旅行，我希望有一天我能和当地的人们交流，更多地了解他们，希望直接读中文书。”
对比自己，觉得惭愧，学东西十分功利，但凡没用，就不碰。只有一事例外，就是乐滋滋地写下一堆没有什么用处的文字，还乐此不彼，这个和苏姗学中文是一样的。我写只是想写、爱写，所以不太计较。没有多少人读，不来钱也没有让我停下笔来。
我们有时看到一些老人，他们有自己的兴趣爱好，旅行、拍照、唱歌、跳舞或是阅读。虽然头发全白了可精神高涨，你和他们聊天，若不提年龄，就是一个年轻人。他们定期锻炼，上网冲浪，用各种手机app和世界各地的朋友或家人交流，还每年旅行。
每次我想到他们，就微笑起来。我曾经的一个澳洲同事和我说：“变老真是一点都不好玩，只有悲伤。”这是真的，尤其看到病重的父母。
我们无法预测哪天会离开这个世界，明白一天天变老真不是件愉悦的事情，因为肌体在一天天地退化、衰败，也可能病重。但是当我们还有健康的时候，我们要做一些自己真正喜欢的事情，只为自己，而不是别人，尽量在离开的时候不留很多遗憾。
讲回苏珊，她也不算年轻了，在法国学习中文不容易，因为没有什么语境，很难说什么时候她能阅读中文书，但她依然是令人羡慕的，她是你我及每个正在变老的人的榜样。变老悲惨吗？当然不是，看看苏珊，她每天都忙得不亦乐乎，每年都定好计划，学习、旅行、拜访朋友，和亲人一起共度宝贵时光，她做这些只是因为她爱做这些事情。JPL先生也一样。
我们迟早都会变老，但想要怎样的结果取决于我们怎么想怎么做。我想像苏珊一样，不管多老，都从心做些真正爱做的事情，那样，每一天都是快乐的。
