自強街87號

I once met a friend named Maria. She told me a story of her own, which was almost unbelievable:

This happened when she had to undergo a knee surgery after falling down on the ice and breaking her left knee. Waking up in the hospital, she noticed a nurse come into her room with quite a light-hearted smile, crooning a popular melody. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Green.", she greeted. Maria found awkward and thought to herself: "Why did she call me Mrs. Green?" "But I'm not Mrs. Green," Maria replied.

"Yes, you are, my ma'am. You've just had a stomach option and need to take some medicine now, as the chart at the bedside reads, ok?"

Here are 27 "golden rules" summarized from Proverbs according to my organizing:

1. What can we get from Proverbs? What are the benefits? 1:1-7

Recently I was upset about my girlfriend for her lousy reaction to my words, which seemingly indicated that there was absolutely no consensus between us, along with her stubborn tantrum, through which I wondered if I could bear such an embarrassing situation for how long. I thought I was the very guy who had the least luck to get days by. Not like others, having wonderful flirting with their loving mates, living sans suci, and a lot of leisure time, which is to me the most precious of all. I couldn't help but ask the Lord whether it should be a test or training He's supposed to teach me as a recruit and grill Him bitterly how long I had to endure so many hurdles ahead since I was in no case Byron Johnson or some other big shot like this.

The answer was negative. The Lord asked me not, neither to compensate what I had rudely done, as well as miserably, for the past days, nor to rebuke me for how unredeemable I was as a totally loser and sinner. He taught me math instead. Math? Yep. Believe me. He just did nothing but to bid me, smilingly, to count what I had and have: was I born in this wonderful world but for His permit? How could I make such a lot of fortune without getting into big touble and losing my soul regardless of His dissuasion? Was my girl bad? Then who else could keep such innocence and purity appealing to me most? How many lonely guys are there still on earth looking desperately for their Mr. and Mrs. Right? How did I feel to be much smarter and more thoughtfully profound in knowledge and studying while there were countless people true to form? What and how much unforgivable have I done and was anyhow all forgiven by Him? Just count, He urged me gently, and thus I would realize how damned lucky I was beneath His arms despite of what a bastard I was, and, of course, I still am. He is surely the greatest teacher ever, with incredible patience and hope. I counted and counted, surprisingly to admit the number was too huge a behemoth to be conquered.

The sum? 8, but crawling.

I plotted a warm, but a bit trite snack gathering tonight for an unexpected long wait though I didn't do it completely out of my wills, yet I was quite satisfied eventually with the whole planning itself, which I would never willingly take on nor involve in for the past old party days when I was still a rabid, naive, and robust colt. Actually I hated this kind of meal: meat most, sultry and flammable always, noisy and proper uneco-friendly, not to mention a tiring waiting to suffer the consequences of abruptness and being clumsy of a bunch of laymen who were greek to the art of gastronomy on normal days and suddenly turned into the bravest cooking pioneers especially at this moment. Puuh! Why do I have to be around those unsavories all the time? Is this world not sweet enough or the saccharine is in fact the orthodox?

If I should have focused on the feeling of my taste buds or the network of olfactory bulbs, I would have missed the main point of what such reunion of pals was really supposed to refer to. For too many years, I just ignored such significant factor, only to leave those full moon camp sites as sanctuaries for those anthropologists who were sick for those days when human civilization was still incipient, for the burst of exclaimation and awe at the first sight of fire, at the first taste of cooked meat, or, at first understanding about how transcending their connoiseur de cuisine should be! Now I came to realize why these guys gathered, enchanting, chatting, and feasting on: not for the full moon, for it shows up anyway twice every month, nor for taking the holiday as another best excuse for the binge and devouring. They did so because of love. This is another practice of acting out love, love to each other, love to the ones they love, and gratefulness for being living together peacefully and happily. They showed love to their beloved by gathering in whichever way of being together, whichever moment they could mutually spare for, as long as not to say boldly and directly as "I love you." or "Thank you, my dear." Wow, is this another innovative euphemism taylormade for us Chinese? Maybe it was already intrinsic only that I had never revealed it before.

Chapter 16, Explaining Creativity (2006), Sawyer, R.K. 原著