Log #6

  

        In our lifetime, no one can survive without any pains. Growing is tough, and life is hard; however, fortunately, we have an inborn ability to fight with those wounds. Mr. Brad Cohen, for example, is an inspiring speaker, author, and fighter undoubtedly.

In this book “Front of the Class”, he had went through sorts of obstacles due to his Tourette syndrome. His behaviors was deemed to be hyperactive and mischievous. No matter how hard he tried to explain for his uncontrollable tics and sounds, no one would listen to him because in their mind he was responsible for his acts. Much to astonishment, he revealed little frustration in his book. Instead, he wrote it positively. He didn’t blame anyone for misunderstanding him. I know his feeling by the way.

That was the first time I should have thought my life was almost ruined, but I didn’t have that consciousness at all. Since that time, somehow my personality became weird (I didn’t think so, but what people told to me proved that I was weird.) From then on, it was uneasy when I pursued my academy. Teachers always misunderstood me with unreasonable biases. One said, “I think you play a vague relationship with other male classmates,” when I was in elementary school. One said, “I used to consider you to be uneducated, and now you amaze me.” The other one was the most ridiculous one. In her tone, her way to speak, and her moves she always belittled other students, including me. However, when I made progress step by step, she was proactive to take the honor. She told to me, “In the past two years, I was being strong thanks to her, thanks to her ironies.”

To be honest, what I have been wishing is that I had have misunderstood them. Those bad memories do haunt me all the time. I used to love “teacher” because this profession is sacred and respectful. Teachers can always find their way to inspire students, to help them, and to make the world stronger. I want to be that kind of teacher or educator. Only when I am qualified will I change a little bit. At least, I read Mr. Cohen’s book; I feel that I should see the world positively as he did. If I hate that kind of teachers, I should become the fond kind of ones. The more people despise me, the harder I have to prove myself.

Log #6

Last week, I worked at the Taipei International Convention Center for assisting a four-day conference. It’s a working group meeting about the transportation belongs to the economies of APEC. My job is to cooperate with the chair for minor meeting on certain field and to operate the Power Point if the economy need to do a presentation. At the first day, I was assigned to help the “Side Meeting on Women in Transportation.” I was so nervous that I was shivering while talking to the chair. Thanks to my partner who is clever and patient. Things go smoothly as the first experience. There were an Opening Plenary and a Closing Plenary on 4/25 and 4/28 perspectively, and my job is to standby in the meeting room. In the end of the conference, the staff had to arrange the room for the next meetings. Everything on the table had to be organized in one line. We spent the whole night to settle all the stuff like glasses, bottles of water, candies and name cards. We had to make sure they are all clean and the numbers are correct.

        Next two days, expert group and sub-group meeting went on from 8 o’clock to 5 o’clock. During that time, I got a chance to observe how an International conference was held. There was an agenda to follow and each of them get well prepared. Each time they had a discussion or after a presentation, the chair had to summarize and gave comment. Sometimes, if they didn’t arrange a meeting, they would discuss with certain economy on a private room. During that period, we were free and we could take a rest. Luckily, the hotel prepared some snakes for the coffee break and we could bring the rest of the sweets home after the work.

Last day in the afternoon, we went to have a Technical Tour according to four aspects, including land, aviation, maritime and intelligent transportation. I accompanied them to see the Electronic Toll Collection System at Freeway Bureau. It’s such an amazing experience that we had a good time to observe how the machine operate and how humanity deal with the big data. Finally, by joining this event, I not only met some new friends but also learned the attitude of service. We, as staff in an International occasion, we created a good image of Taiwan. We all made an effort and did a good job. 

Log #5

      

Am I a Ghost? Or just a Shell?

      What is the definition of life? What is the meaning of life? With built-in conscious, a life form has the ability to create creative thoughts and communicate with other lives. However, if "conscious" can be man-made, can it be considered to be a "life form"? If these man-made conscious do have emotions, feelings and even pains, do they represent a new form "life"? If so, what does life mean? How much does it take to become a life? 

     These were the question I ask myself after watching the animation movie Ghost In the Shell (1995). The movie not only beautifully depicted a massive robotic world ruled by various kinds of life forms, but also combined philosophies from multiple cultures and religions. What surprised me the most was that Ghost In the Shell was, in fact, the film that inspired the director of The Matrix, which was also considered to be one of the greatest movies of all time. Both of them established an enormous virtual worlds that demonstrated how creative human minds could be.

     That leads to another question: Can "conscious" be programed and put together? At present, many scientists and engineers are managing to create artificial intelligent machines which have the abilities to think and learn. They design these machines for the purpose of inputing emotions and senses in them, so that these machines would look more like "humans". Some would say these programmers are crossing the line - the differences between human and robot -, saying these robots will ultimately possess the power to destroy man kinds. Others believe these creations may set a new milestone in human history, saying they will establish a new era for humans.

      After I watched the film, I thought about putting my conscious into a healthier, stronger and powerful body and starting a completely new life. If my conscious can be programmed, I would like to have all my depressed emotions and memories to be erased. As for my "old" body, I would keep it in the storage to remind me not to make same mistakes that I had made before. If these movie plots is real, I would be a "ghost" who can live in any "shell". Because, after all, we are nothing but created forms of lives.

Log #5

The silent wife

This novel tells a story that a woman named Brett had a car crush with a man, Todd; it sounds bad to have a car accident, yet however, it's this car accident that brought them together. After that little car accident, Todd found himself rude, so he asked Brett out for dinner. Then they gradually began their love. 

What amazes me is that the depict of scenes the author gives always brings me into the novel's world. When he writes about the ladder or the outside of the buildings and people's portrait, we can always see the real one. For example, It was a Gothic Revival eyesore of decaying brick, flaking paint, and narrow windows, with spiky gables that gave it a menacing upward thrust- a vulgar aberration on a street lined with square-built structures that were fully restored. 

I think the story of Todd and Brett does exist in our world. As a Chinese proverb goes, 不打不相識, sometimes we may have a fight with others. However, that fight or quarrel is not necessarily a bad thing. I just think that everything is meaningful, and sometimes it's just a fate. One of my friends broke up with his girlfriend. However, because of his girlfriend, he met with his old friend that he hadn't contacted for over ten years. Thus, we can also state that every love exists in our life because it is meaningful. It may not be a good ending but it will definitely bring something to us. As of the two people in this novel, I wonder how's their love will go. 

Log #5

One day when I was waiting for my friend at 7-11, which had a bookstore in it, I picked up this book and started to read it. I had heard about this book and its adapted movie before, but I never got the chance to read or watch it. 

The first two chapter was talking about how the life of the main character, Dan, had changed after he met his mentor, Socrates, at a gas station. Dan thought he had a successful life. He was an excellent Gymnast, who won many prizes. Socrates challenged the way of Dan's life by asking him a lot of questions. Dan started to feel confused about his life. Although he looked successful from other's perspective, he did not feel satisfied within his heart. 

I felt a sense of excitement while reading this novel. This book was definitely the book that I needed for my life now. The questions and words saying from Socrates also gave me a chance to reflect on myself. I was also confused about my life just like Dan. I like the way that Socrates taught Dan. Socrates did not give Dan a solution or an answer, instead, he let Dan figure out the answer by raising a question to him. A few years ago, I started to read some books related to Buddhism. The books that I read did not actually talk about the religious doctrine or teaching of Buddhism but provide some techniques that you can use to make your life happier. I think the way and the word of Socrates gave me a similar feeling of these Buddhism books.

"Understanding is one dimensional. It is the comprehension of the intellect. It leads to knowledge, which you have. Realization, on the other hand, is three dimensional. It is the simultaneous comprehension of the 'whole-body'---the head, heart, and physical instincts. It comes only from clear experience." 

Above is one of the paragraphs that I like from this chapter. Sometimes we all know many rules, knowledge, and truth. However, understanding is one thing, realization is another thing. Only through experience can we really learn and understand the meaning of a thing. Just like swimming and driving, you have to really go into the situation and learn from it. You can not call yourself being able to swim or drive if you only read the instruction from books.

I felt lucky that I picked this book by chance. I could have missed this book if I did not go to that 7-11 and waited for my friend. I hope that by reading this book, I can also follow the growing path with Dan and find out the true happiness of my life. 

Log #5

    Speaking of self discovering, what flashes through my mind first is Miyazaki Hayao's(宮崎駿) animations. From "The Valley of the Wind" to "My Neighbor Totoro" and to "Spirited Away," Miyazaki Hayao's movies have accompanied me through my childhood, and some of the elements in these films have inspired me to pursue a better self.

    In Miyazaki's animations, it strangely is female characters that account for a big part of the films.  Moreover, princess as these characters are often set as, they are not spoiled at all.(Except Chihiro in Sprited Away) Instead, these females, while carrying their proudness,  display special personal traits such as independence, strength, fearlessness, a sense of responsibility, and so on.  Actually, Miyazaki even once said, “Many of my movies have strong female leads - brave, self-sufficient girls that don’t think twice about fighting for what they believe in with all their heart. They’ll need a friend, or a supporter, but never a saviour. Any woman is just as capable of being a hero as any man.” 

    Every time I watch Miyazaki's movies, I can deeply relate myself to these female leaders, for I admire these personal traits so much that I want to equip myself with them. I see from these characters leadership skills. They interact with people with authenticity; they make choices with decisiveness; they chase what they want without hesitation; they face obstacles with determination and courage.  They are the models of leaders and they are what I want to be in the future.  

    In the future world where competitions will only become more and more fierce, those who carry great techniques of leadership will run the world. In order not to be left behind, I think I will have to learn from to these fantastic women and make myself more competitive. Luckily, I guess I have had some of the traits with me now.    

Log #5

Discover Myself
For the past five days, I've been thinking so much about what can help me to discover the inner self, and to get myself better than before. As I read through some books in the school's library and listened to the songs that were playing on my phone, I had a thought. People say that one's personality can be seen in little details, I wonder if I go through all the things that are on my phone, would I be able to find something amazing about myself that I have no idea about before?

I found a place and sat down right away, and one by one I checked the apps that are installed on my phone. I quickly scan
 through the songs that are playing on my list. I figured that I organized my songs in detail.  For example, I divided the song into two parts: instrument music and songs with languages. Under the language, I have English, Mandarin, Japanese and others. Inside each category of language, I separated the songs again by the tempo of the songs then followed by the style of the songs. I wasn't surprised at all - in fact, the detailed organization is expected in my mind. I always have my way of organization, things have to be some sort of way (which I want them to be) or I will not feel comfortable whenever I see it. Another example of this "crazily detailed organize" habit of mine is the way I store my make-ups and skin care products. Personally, I don't have much make-ups stuff, but I do have lots of bottles when it comes to skin care products. They all come with all kinds of sizes, and I really enjoy making them stand in lines and it has to be in the order of tallest in the back and shortest on the front. Usually, I'll have the ones that I favored on the right side of the shelf, the reason for this is very simple - I'm right-handed so it is easier for me to grab things that I need.

When I looked at my wallpaper (on the phone), I realized that I haven't change it for a very long time - around a year I suppose. Also with my app layout, it doesn't seem to change much from the very first day I got my phone. I don't like changes. I'm not used to a sudden change in anything that I know - my living surroundings, the food I eat,  the care product that I use... anything. If it has to change, then I would take baby steps to change it slowly. I'm scared of changes; I hate the thoughts that I have to re-do everything and get used to the new things again. I just feel like living in my bubble, without worrying too much of life.

I also kept my app layout simple, it made me think of myself. I'm a very simple person, I don't like to be complicated. Life is already complex, why should I make it worst? There's definitely no deeper meaning behind my words; I meant what I said. I understand sometimes you have to rounded up your words so you wouldn't hurt anyone, but if you rounded up too much, the person you were talking to may take things even worst then you could image. So I rather put my thoughts straight on the words and be mindful of the words that I chose. So far, I keep myself honest to stay out of troubles. Most causes of problems are lies. And I don't want to be one of those people who messed up their life without knowing it.

So, to sum up, I learned my personality through the apps on my phone. I'm a very simple person who is honest with her words and tries her best to stay out of troubles. I dislike the feeling of needing a change or have to experience a change. I'm a super crazy organize person at certain areas,  and I like to be living inside my personal bubble.

Log #5

  “The CHRONICLES of NARNIA” series which written by C.S.Lewis is one of my favorite novels that I have read. It is talking about a story of things happened in a magic and mysterious world “Narnia”. The main characters are four brothers and sisters—Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, and the most important one, Aslan. I saw movie first and then read the novels, however, I felt moved and just like I am having an great adventure with the characters. I could feel their growing, their confusion, their courage and their weaknesses. This series affected me a lot, no matter on having good relationship with others or on having great courage to face any difficulties and challenges. I learned many things from the series, and I want to talk about my favorite character—Edmund.

  Being the third kids in the family, Edmund always thought that he was the one least being taken carefully. Because his elder brother Peter and elder sister Susan is very obedient, and younger sister is the youngest, their parents would often neglected Edmund’s requirements and wanted him to take good care of Lucy. Moreover, when Edmund was disobedient, he would be scolded by Peter and Susan. These unfair treatments made Edmund stand by the evil White Witch cause she made use of Edmund’s weakness—she gave him her concern.

  At the end Edmund penetrated the White Witch’s bad plan and went back to Aslan’s group. However, the process of getting sensible, thoughtful, faithful and forgiving his family’s unfair treatments are the plot which is truly touch me a lot.

  In my family, I mean the bigger one which include my aunts, uncles and cousins, I’m the third kids too. Although my parents love me very much and I know the love they give me is totally equal to my younger brother, not really like Edmund’s condition, sometimes I would still feel a little bit uncomfortable about being the third kids in the family.

  I deeply know the desire of bring the younger one and being taken care of others. Nevertheless, I always had to take care of my younger brother, and my two elder cousins often thought that my brother was cute and I was annoyed. What’s more, I felt like my brother didn’t like me than the cousins because I would discipline him when he was disobedient. The feeling of being ignored by cousins and my brother was complicated and very sad.

  Nonetheless, “The CHRONICLES of NARNIA” series helped me a lot, especially Edmund. From his journey of turning into a sensible child, I learned the way of showing my love and how to balance the supply and demand of my love and care. I realized that my cousins still love me but they just like Peter and Susan, who didn’t know how to express their love correctly. And my brother is just like Lucy, who is not always at the same frequency with Edmund. He loves me of course, however, he always uses some special ways to express his love to me.

  “The CHRONICLES of NARNIA” series is definitely a great novel. I am very thankful for this series of novel and one of the main character Edmund. Thank these things let me open my heart and feel the concern and love from my cousins and brother.

image source:https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B4%8D%E5%B0%BC%E4%BA%9E%E5%82%B3%E5%A5%87%EF%BC%9A%E7%8D%85%E5%AD%90%C2%B7%E5%A5%B3%E5%B7%AB%C2%B7%E9%AD%94%E8%A1%A3%E6%AB%A5

Log #5

Brief intro of the movie – Money Monster:

    Lee Gates (George Clooney) is a bombastic TV personality. He is a complete lack of sincerity as the showboating host of a financial TV show titled Money Monster.

    The story begins with an irate investor, Kyle Budwell, who has lost 60 grands due to mistakenly believing what Lee Gates has said. Thus, he manages to sneak into the television studio during a live broadcast with a loaded gun, an explosive vest and a determined mind – to get some answers from the people he blames for the loss of his life’s savings. He takes Gates, his crew, and his ace producer Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts) hostage live on air.

Personal reflection:

    For me, I conclude that Lee represents a foolish and fancy host, and Kyle represents a little guy who has normal live, making 14$ per hour by driving taxi. The characters’ sets have offered us audience a real sample around us in the reality. Thus, I consider the movie as the most inspired and ironic movie in 2016 because the way that how the director produced this movie is making us audience to rethink of the stockholders’ situations in the real context.

First, the unreasonable “glitch” of the company has happened. Dramatically, overnight, the company has lost 800$ million dollars. The investor, Kyle, who has devoted all his money to the market, sharing the risks has become a nutcase. Kyle is not satisfied when both Lee and IBIS chief communications officer Diane Lester offer to compensate him for his financial loss and refused to take “glitch” as an answer to the problem. He wants Camby to “admit” his fault -- He is a fraud.

Second, as the moving going, with the help of longtime director Patty Fenn, Lee tries to calm Kyle and find Camby for him. When I am watching the final confrontation, I exhaled. When Camby says, “You only came after me because you lost your money. As long as everyone’s making money, no one cares.” He declares the point so frankly that I think it is the core which the director intends to express to the audience. (I don't want to spoil the details if you are interested in the movie, you can see it online.)

Third, the most ironic part is after Kyle is shot by the cop, everyone in front of their TV just go back to your life, ignoring what has happened on TV. NO BODY CARES ABOUT LOSING A LIFE. Everyone views the incident as a ridiculous joke without the awareness of what it is really happening in the real life. This scenario alarms me to think about the real financial situation in the reality. What if there are lots of people like Kyle but they fail at the end, how do they keep their life going? The whole sick society is filled with plausible words and deceived factors, the only way to reveal the truth is to keep your mind clear and read the situation carefully.

Log #5

        

        We are asked to talk about ourselves in our final presentation, so l thought I would talk about one of my vulnerabilities in this log.

I used to love writing. LOVED. I wrote all the time. I wrote while I was at home, in cram school, and I even wrote while I was in class. Until my classroom teacher took away the notebook I used to write my stories, and told me later that she thought my stories were inappropriate for my age. Yes, she read my stories without my permission and she refused to return it back to me. I felt humiliated, embarrassed, and angry. That was the first time I started to feel like I didn’t like writing. 

Also, I remember being given low scores on my essays while I was in high school, especially by my Chinese teacher in my senior year. She would always give me low grades because she didn't like my writing styles, and she would make fun of my essay in front of people. One time I remember particularly clear was the time I shared a personal story of mine, but she gave a really low score on it because she thought it was “too dramatic to be true”. I was very hurt since I felt like I poured my heart out to write this essay, but I was not trusted.

        Recently, I have been caught in a similar situation again. I am said that "I write like I talk", which I agreed. Which I don't agree is that people not appreciating my efforts of trying to be better. It just brings me back to the old times where I felt like I was less than anyone, I was not good enough, and that I just couldn't do anything right.

Again and again, those people who were hired by the schools to educate me ruined a part of me. To me, educating should be able helping students become better people, and truth be told, I think a lot of teachers from public schools don’t really pay much attention to a certain student’s personality while they only focusing on all the rules and tests they have for students. They don’t adapt their teaching method for certain students. Sadly, I was always that kind of student who couldn’t take punches well. I was always motivated by encouragement; therefore, when I was criticized like that, I simply just lost passion in writing. I wish there could have been someone telling me that I wasn't THAT bad, but no. No one ever did so.

That is why I don’t write anymore. In fact, writing scares me nowadays. Whenever I need to write an essay, I freak out. I could not construct words into paragraphs well anymore because I am too scared that I would get criticized again. It sounds ridiculous but it is true. I do not enjoy writing anymore and this is one of the saddest things that ever happened to me. I wish everything could have been better. I wish teachers could have been nicer to my writings since there should not be any correct answers. 

        Sadly, any "I wish" or "what if" would not change this. It is what it is, and it will be a vulnerability of mine forever.

        

Log #5

    Third year in university, as a transfer I am not able to graduate in four years but five. Since the last project is about self-exploring, I know that I must to face my biggest weakness: time management. “Lack of time” is always the excuse for me whenever I face my friends, family, or even my interest. But that’s not true. I sleep late, so my time isn’t enough, I shop online and do homework at the same time, so my schedule is often delay. Sometimes I even convince myself that I am only in my early twenties, I have one extra year to graduate and I have enough time. However I learned from one of my close friends recently that his junior just passed away due to a car accident. This remind me of the water park fire(八仙塵爆) happened two years ago, which caused to fifteen young lives vanished from the world forever. Life is unpredictable. I feel like my life just started yet, I am going to enjoy all the happiness in college and do my dream job after graduate, but somebody at the same age as me will no longer has the chance to understand the joyful of life.

    The time is never enough if I am always greedy to do so many things at the same time. I started to read a book When Breath Becomes Air, written by a doctor Paul Kalanithi, it's about his life and the process of chasing his dream after found out he had cancer. Though I haven't finish yet, a question appeared in my mind: how come people often regret on something they didn't do when they had time or they were young? Prevent me from facing the same problem in the future, I know I need to self-discipline and focus one thing at a time. Furthermore, I expect to learn more from Dr. Kalanithi. At last, I want to remind myself with the quote from Harvey MacKay.

    "Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you have lost it you can never get it back.”  — Harvey MacKay

Log #5

I Lost Sight of Who I Was. I've Learned From My Mistakes.

Selena Gomez is one of my favorite singers. I like her so much is not because she is Justin Bieber's ex-girlfriend, but because she has truly inspired me a lot in many ways by her songs, by her speeches, and by her acts.
Two days ago, I watched one of her speeches sharing her process of growing up. Making debut as a ten-year-old girl, she has undergone plenty of judgements and criticisms. How can a little girl keep being judged whether she is perfect enough when she doesn't even know what the definition of perfect is? Bullied by the media, knocked down by the criticisms for countless times, Selena had her hard time trying to figure out who she was and how it was. At first, she was very sensitive about others' opinion and the way how people look at her, but gradually she realized that she could't change people's mind, but she could change hers. Therefore, she started to focus on her inner self. Figuring out who she was and what she loved, Selena tried hard to learn as much as she could. She learned how to sing, how to act, and most importantly, she learned how to love herself. She said,"only when you love yourself, people are going to support you." At the end of the speech, she even asked the audience to practice saying "I love you" in front of the mirror after they went home. That's pretty cool.
After watching the speeches, I then started to think who I really am and whether I love myself. Unfortunately,  I don't have the exact answer. I don't know what I like to eat more; I don't know which one I prefer; I don't even  know what is my strength. However, thankfully I know I like to interact with people. Although I am a quite weird person that I always fall into to contradiction, I know for sure that I am very optimistic and I want people around me to be happy and carefree. That's the reason why I have decided to join the service industry as my career. Despite I know it would be tiring that I have to deal with customers especially those who have special needs, I know it is what I love to do and where I belong to.

Source: http://lybio.net/selena-gomez-we-day-california/speeches/

Log #5

Log #5

  I like a girl whose name is Lizzie Velasquez. She is an American girl with a rare disease where it prevents her from gaining fat, and one of her eyes are not working. She was called the ugliest woman in the world. However, I think she is the most beautiful girl in the world because she has an active thought and is strong to overcome the humiliating words from people on the internet. There was a time when 4 million people watched a video of her and said 'kill it with fire' to Lizzie Velasquez. That is a serious hurt. If it is was me, I guess I would just stay at home and cry. However, she chose to face the problem with positive attitude.

  I was inspired by her words: 'Am I gonna let the people who called me a monster define me? No. I’m going to let my goals and my success and my accomplishments define me.' Instead of focusing what she does not have, she values more on what is inside her.

       I usually define myself in a negative way. I always think I am not doing good enough because I want to be perfect. I was not happy with how I see myself now. In fact, I dislike myself a lot because I do not want to be a negative person. Therefore, I should learn to focus more on the good parts of me instead of my accomplishments just like how Lizzie Velasquez does. I used to view myself as a nothing. The reason is that I am not professional in anything. My friends are always doing things better than me. For example, my friend and I started to learn keyboard together, but she plays better than me. There are many situations like that, and I only focus on the negative parts. However, after reading the article of Lizzie Velasquez, I think about the good parts of me. What I did not think of is that although I do not do as well as my friends in a particular field, I have many talents since I know how to do lots of things, such as playing keyboard, filming, photoshopping and more.

       The life of Lizzie Velasquez helps me focus more on what I have and think more of who I am and what I have instead of been conquered by my weakness. If Lizzie Velasquez could overcome her situation of the problem of her body, why can not I overcome the weakness of mine?

https://simplelifestrategies.com/how-the-worlds-ugliest-woman-has-inspired-millions/

Log #5

Top Reasons to Become a Teacher

    As the article mentioned, there are 10 reasons for one to become a teacher.

1.      Student Potential

2.      Student Successes

3.      Teaching a Subject Helps You Learn a Subject

4.      Daily Humor

5.      Affecting the Future

6.      Staying Younger

7.      Autonomy in the Classroom

8.      Conducive to Family Life

9.      Job Security

10.  Summers Off

As for me, it’s the student potential and student successes that make me want to become a teacher. Being a teacher has been my dream career since I was only seven years old. Actually, my thought was very pure and simple at that time: to help those who are in need. At that time, I used to take out my pocket money to buy the stamps from Red Cross in order to help those in need. Thus, I started to think about what I could do for those in need. Finally, I came out with the idea: becoming a teacher. During my school life, teachers have always been a lot of help for me. Thus, I think teacher is truly a career that can help people a lot. Even though the society is unfair, at least education can make everyone equal. Also, I do gain a lot of the sense of achievement from teaching my classmates. Though the career is not high-paid, I think the value of teacher doesn’t lie in merely material aspect but spiritual one. Thus, I would like to become a teacher in the future.

-link: https://www.thoughtco.com/top-reasons-to-become-a-teacher-8343

Log #5

2017.04.25

Log #5

This week I read The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. In this log I will focus on two themes: illiteracy and sudden release. I will also share my favorite quotes.

(Book cover)

I did not commiserate with Hanna Schmitz, not at all. As an illiterate, she should have known what to do and what not to do all the same. Illiteracy does not mean ignorance. Needs must when the devil drives. Maybe the helpless Hanna was forced to burn those female Jewish prisoners to death in a locked church during a bombing raid with the other defendants. Maybe not. However, there was no denying that she was responsible for that. Even if it was not her intention, her indifference and silence made her a murderer, didn’t they? To me, there is no much difference between the ones who kill and the ones who assist in killing. Another mistake Hanna had made was struggling to keep the fact that she herself was an illiterate in the dark mitigated the other murderers’ punishments. I was speechless. Bad karma came right after Hanna. She paid for it. She was sentenced to life in prison and spent 18 whole years in the prison. But then again, I believe that each and every one of us is the most special being in the universe. We are here because we have a place to fill. I know it was kind of contradictory, but I could understand Hanna at the same time. Honestly speaking, I think we are all Hanna. We all have something hidden from everyone else that we do not want anyone to know. Hanna Schmitz reminded me of my mother. My mother is half-illiterate. She has started to make a living after she graduated from an elementary school. So what? She is the breadwinner in my family. She is the greatest person in my life, and I never feel ashamed that she cannot read and write but listen and speak.

(Hanna Schmitz)

"BROOKS WAS HERE" As for sudden freedom, Hanna reminded me of Brooks Hatlen, the prison librarian and one of the oldest convicts at Shawshank, in the drama film The Shawshank Redemption. The biggest similarity between Hanna and Brooks was that they ended the rest of their lives by hanging themselves. They had been behind bars for such a long time that they were institutionalized. They were terrified of adjusting to the astonishing changes in the outside world. Although it is not a good idea to say so, but their endings were surprisingly effective to me as a viewer.

("BROOKS WAS HERE")

Last come the quotes that I would like to share with you.

“There's no need to talk about it, because the truth of what one says lies in what one does.”

You don’t have to say much about yourself because what you have done have explained almost everything of you. I recall a story in the Confucian Analects:

(The story from the Confucian Analects)

The message behind the story is that you should not only listen to what one says but also observe what one does.

“I asked her about life, and it was as if she rummaged around in a dusty chest to get me the answers.”

I like this quote because of its word usage. It is written beautifully. Here, the word chest has double meaning. A chest can be a box with a lid, but it can also be the front of the trunk from the neck to the ab. The quote gave me a feeling that Hanna’s chest was full of dust –her guilt over the incident, her being overwhelmed by the sudden release, and most importantly, her fear of what Michael thought of her. With Michael’s help, Hanna learnt so many things in the jail that she must want to tell Michael something, but she did not know how to start and where to begin. As you can see from the picture below, Hanna, who had not seen Michael for many, many years, looked at him with a heavy heart and a pair of eyes filled with a load of secrets.

(The quote scene)

References

The Reader borrowed from the NTUST Library

明倫月刊-論語簡說