My recent situation - To Mary, Neil and Pan

Dear Mary, Neil and Pan,

I’m thankful for your warm welcome when I declared my return a few days ago, and I’m very sorry for having been missing again.

I’ve been always trying to write back to you. But like a weak computer, my little resource is usually taken totally by programs that are needed to keep the system running, leaving me no room for any pleasure. Mary may warn me again that I’

d better not drive myself too hard. But I’m really not driving myself hard. I’

m just like a computer that was made weak or has got infected with viruses that

slows down its speed. It seems I can never process as much as I believe I can.

I admire you on that, dear Neil. You seem to be able to manage all the five very well. By “the five”, I mean career, family, further education, friends and

interests. I really wonder how you have made it. You lead a challenging career;

you’re father of two little children and take good of your family and house, but still, you have time to memorize those English words and idioms and working on your aspirations and have time for your interests! They seem always conflicts

to me. I’m often forced to choose from them. Once I have to, I would choose

to give up one or two or all of the last three: further education, friends and interests, with the last as my quickest choice. That’s why I miss from the forum so often. I’m very sorry for that but have to, though I love the forum and miss you so much!

You don’t need to pull any stunts to make me stay, Neil, because I enjoy your company so much that once possible I’ll be back to listen to you and talk with you, of course though, with your stunts, I’m sure I’ll come more frequent.

Dear Pan, I felt greatly honored to know that I deserved a red carpet by you on

my return. Thank you very much, dear master! Your greeting words gave me a warm

feeling of coming home. I’m very glad to find that many old friends remain here and the forum prospers as ever. I owe much of it to you. I should have responded to you much sooner but you see, the term was drawing to end then and the school was busiest. The school wasn’t over until the day before. Then I spent two days cleaning up the house for the rural New Year. My wife’s waist hurts and

I had to do all cleaning work alone. What have you done for the New Year? Are

you going to give your child “Lucky Money”? How much? I promised my child I

would give him Lucky Money this year. I’ve never given him any before because

I thought he was too young to enjoy the pleasure of having money. I said I would give him 10 yuan, but my wife didn’t agree, arguing that other parents would

give at least 100. But I don’t want to leave my child an impression that money

comes easy.

Dear Mary, what I most want to say to you for now is “Long live Mary!” Be with us forever! You don’t need to explain why you keep writing here at all. You

said it was your pleasure and that is enough. What do we live for but for pleasure? And if Mary is an example of Baha’is, then long live all Baha’is!

I’m sorry to read your cousin’s sad story, dear Mary. It would be hard for a

woman who loves life so much as you to accept the fact that one should choose to

die, especially one who shares much in common with you. But I’m afraid we can

do little about it, for life does sometimes go to a point where we are either no longer able to afford it or it becomes meaningless and hopeless. My father is

caught in a similar situation to your cousin’s. He got a stroke about 7 months ago and became paralyzed, with only his left arm able to move. He has been bound to bed since then and his three children have to take turns to be with him,

feed him and clean and dry his bed that are almost never clean and dry.

With affection,

Charles