Learning that my beneficiary is a Christian or at least, accepts the Christian faith through my very first interaction, I took the opportunity to share more about the message I received online today (Sunday) as she unfortunately, does not have any means to connect with any online Church services. If I am going to be honest, the sermon today was more profound than usual, with a few of the learning points being more complex. Still, I shared about our need to be compassionate to others’ needs, not just their spiritual ones but all of their human needs, if we ever want to share the Good News with others. I did this to give her a glimpse of how people were adapting to the new normal and hopefully remind her that God is still and always will be with her.
From then on, the rest of our conversation was surprisingly complex, certainly going further than ‘How was your day?’ or ‘What did you eat today?’. What constantly amazes me during and after every conversation, is her depth of thought. For instance, when I was sharing with her that the young have difficulty sleeping at night compared to the elderly who generally sleeps and wakes up early, she exclaimed, “这是因为你们浪费太多时间了。晚上你们做什么？玩游戏或跟朋友聊天对吗？””It is because all of you waste too much time already! Do you not play and talk to your friends at night?” And for the rest of us who may disagree but still somehow suffers from insomnia, “你们想太多了。” “You think too much at night.”
I don’t know about you, but I would give such a reply full marks without question.
Moving on, if there was one life advice she wanted me to know, I am certain that it would be the importance of filial piety. Talking about the benefits of staying in a school’s hostel – No travel time – she immediately remarked, “Less travel time for you, but more money spent by your parents.” What surprised me was not the insight, but that that was her most immediate concern. It may seem obvious that someone estranged from their family deems filial piety to be of utmost importance. The more sensitive may even regard her sharing as a longing for her loved ones. Notwithstanding her reasons for sharing about the importance of filial piety, I found it extremely befitting and courageous of her to speak out about it. To be sure, I did not urge her to share anything related to her family, safeguarding her privacy. So, as she went on to explain coherently about the importance of filial piety, it was an extremely realistic push factor for me; Otherwise, you may just see yourself on the receiving end of such treatment one day.
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