On my way back to Beijing I met one Chinese graduate student majoring in American literature from UMass. She just finished her studies and moved back to China. No job is waiting for her now in China.
Sitting by my left side are two Chinese students going to a private high school in Florida. They came from Changchun as sophomore last fall. They go back to China for winter, spring and summer breaks. They talk and behave very much like your average Chinese students.
I also met a young relative of mine, who is turning 26 soon. I was thinking about talking with him and sharing with him some of my ideas and thoughts. But I refrained from saying anything beyond shallow greetings. I’d rather write something here.
Not because I don’t have anything valuable to say or to share but because I think of the time when I was his age and what I was doing and thinking.
Back then I was young and stupid and full of myself, definitely not interested in listening to seniors talking and trying to learn from them. I thought they either don’t understand me or they belong to an older generation, sort of lagging behind in their way of thinking.
Young people see the differences between us much more than wherein we are the same, that we are all travelers on this same life journey, all going through the same process of growing, rebelling, awakening, self-awareness, self-fulfillment, and most importantly, getting old.
Being senior means they start the journey earlier than the young and have the time to accumulate some valuable experiences. The paradox of life is this: seldom do the young have the wisdom to see this. After they repeat the same mistakes and are no longer young, they now know.
A Chinese saying goes, 年轻气盛 (nián qīng qì shèng), that is, young people like to fight at every battle.