Wednesday, October 21, 2015
On conversations on the MRT
A while back (maybe a year? maybe two? this post has been sitting in my drafts for a longggg time) I witnessed a conversation on the MRT in cantonese.
An elderly couple. The woman had dementia.
This was on the circle line towards harbourfront.
old man: this is the new part of the MRT.
old woman: eh? where does it go by?
old man: near... (points out each station to his wife)
old woman: one north? where is that?
old man: there, the place we used to stay in after we got married...
old woman: oh, near commonwealth.
old man: yeah, then kent ridge, remember we used to go there on dates.
old woman: ...really? I don't remember.
old man: and then when (their kid's name) was young we used to go to haw par villa.
old woman: ...so, where is this one north again?
This conversation continued for quite a while.
I did not know what to make of it.
---
你問：“你們爲什麼還和我這個麻煩的人當朋友？”
她說：“因爲我們是朋友，而我明白你現在的感受，我自己也經歷過。”
他說：“因爲如果是我們爲這種事煩惱，你也會幫着和支持着我們。”
我說：“因爲初識時，是你先對我笑，對我打個招呼的。”
正是，原來識個朋友，是那麼的平凡。平凡到差些忘了遇見時的情形。
你當時，無語。
現在，有答案了麼？你不必回答，因爲這種話我們不需要聽，只需你自己知道，就夠了、好了。
In english:
You asked: "Why are you friends with me when I'm always such a troublesome person?"
She said: "Because we're friends and I know how you're feeling now. I've been through it."
He said: "Because you'd do the same for our troubles."
I said: "Because you smiled and said hello first."
Friendships are actually really normal. So normal it's easy to forget how they started.
You had nothing to say.
Perhaps you have an answer now. It's not something you need to tell us, because it's not something we need to know. It's something only you need to know and that should be enough.
Posted at 9:40 PM
