A Vietnamese legend tells of the scholar Tu Thuc, whose sole passion in life was to travel and explore new places. One day, his travels took him to Bich Dao Grotto, where he met and fell in love with a beautiful fairy. Having the heart of a traveler, he asked the fairy to take him back to her land.
The fairy agreed, and Tu Thuc lived happily in the land of the fairies for a while. But soon, he began to miss his home country and all of the places, people and customs he had left behind. He asked the fairy queen, who was the mother of his young fairy lover, to allow him to return to the human world. She warned him that once he left the land of the fairies, he would never be able to return. He would never see his fairy again. But Tu Thuc was so lonely, longing so much for the familiarity of his homeland, that he agreed at any cost.
When Tu Thuc returned to the human world, he found that time has passed more quickly than in the land of the fairies. His hometown was unrecognizable to him and all of the people he had loved had long passed away. The customs and culture of his people had changed so much over time that Tu Thuc felt like a foreigner in his homeland.
The pain of this was unbearable for Tu Thuc. He left the village to wander elsewhere, and was never seen again.
The heat on this little peninsula has become oppressive. The air is thick and heavy. It lays down on top of you when you're trying to sleep. I've gone quiet here, because there is far too much to say. Things are not going quite as planned. It's time to make a decision between putting off the inevitable or sticking it out this time and trying to make something become real. Saying some hard things. Probably hearing some, as well. My instincts are telling to just wash, rinse and repeat. But then my instincts, in this regard, I'm afraid have not taken me very far in life thus far. The problem is, there's always a moment where you have a choice. Then the moment passes, depending on the choice you make, and suddenly, it's out of your hands. It takes two to tango, as they say.
Haruki Murakami once wrote that in this world, there are things you can do alone, and things you can only do with somebody else, and that it's important to combine the two in just the right amount. I think this is a rather simple observation on the surface, but I believe that it is a serious struggle for most people, naturally falling on one side or the other, out of balance. Lopsided living. I'm sure you can assume which side I fall on.
But I don't have to do anything tonight. Or even tomorrow. I can afford a little time to gather my thoughts, and try to produce a vocabulary that would be adequate for dealing with this situation. I'm losing my most valuable asset in this country soon. It's time to stand on my own two feet. And by that I mean, it's probably time to stop trying so hard to stand up alone.
That's a strange thing to say, isn't it? I don't expect it to make sense to anyone else. It doesn't even really make sense to me. But there's no hurry. If things are going to get sorted this time, it will take a lot of patience anyway. Patience, understanding, tolerance, and gentle words. And a dedication to seeing things through.
Watch it. And understand.
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