Saturday, February 21, 2009

The Little Mermaid

Recently some friends and I shared the fairy tales that we favoured most once upon a time.

In comparison, children are more receptive to fairy tales and are usually touched by the stories. For adult, we would possibly be attracted by the fairy tales if we re-discover our natural kindness from our inner selves.

Once upon a time my children would bring their favorite story books to me, asking me to read the fairy tales for them. They would sleep happily after the stories.

By the way most of the fairy tales begin with ‘once upon a time’.

Nowadays they don’t listen to fairy tales anymore. They said fairy tales are not real. Fairy tales marked the end of their childhood journey.


Hans Christian Andersen (安徒生,1805-1875) wrote some of the best-loved fairy tales of all time: The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Match Girl, The Ugly Duckling, The Red Shoes, The Snow Queen and many others.

Once upon a time, they also brightened my childhood.

Andersen's fairy tales identify with the unfortunate and outcast. This made his tales very compelling. Some of his tales revealed an optimistic belief in the triumph of the good, among them 'The Snow Queen' and 'Little Ugly Duckling', and some ended unhappily, like 'The Little Match Girl.'

In 'The Little Mermaid' Andersen expressed a longing for ordinary life. The Little Mermaid lives at the sea bottom with her father the sea king, her grandmother, and her five elder sisters.

When a mermaid turns 15, she is allowed to swim to the surface to watch the world above. When the Little Mermaid's turn comes, she ventures to the surface, sees a ship with a handsome prince, and falls in love with him from a distance. A great storm hits, and the Little Mermaid saves the prince from a near-drowning. She delivers him unconscious to the shore near a temple. She waits until a young girl from the temple finds him. The prince never sees the Little Mermaid.

The Little Mermaid asks her grandmother whether humans can live forever if they do not drown. The grandmother explains that humans have a much shorter lifespan than merfolk. When mermaids die they turn to sea foam and cease to exist, while humans have an eternal soul that lives on in Heaven.

The Little Mermaid, longing for the prince and an eternal soul, eventually visits the Sea Witch. The Sea Witch sells her a potion that gives her legs, in exchange for her tongue (as the Little Mermaid has the most intoxicating voice in the world). Drinking the potion will make her feel as if a sword is being passed through her, and walking on her feet will feel like walking on knives. In addition, she will only get a soul if the prince loves her and marries her, for then a part of his soul will flow into her. Otherwise, at dawn on the first day after he marries another woman, the Little Mermaid will die brokenhearted and turn to sea foam.

The Little Mermaid drinks the potion and meets the prince. The prince is attracted to her beauty and grace even though she is mute. Most of all he likes to see her dance, and she dances for him despite her sharp pain. When the prince's father orders him to marry the neighboring king's daughter, the prince tells the Little Mermaid he can only love the young woman from the temple, but adds that the Little Mermaid is beginning to take the temple girl's place in his heart. It turns out that the princess is the temple girl, who had been sent to the temple to be educated. The prince loves her and the wedding is announced.

As dawn breaks, the Little Mermaid dives into the sea. Her body dissolves into foam. She feels the warmth of the sun; she has turned into a spirit, a daughter of the air. The other daughters of the air tell her she has become like them because she strove with all her heart to gain an eternal soul. She will eventually rise up into the kingdom of God.

The statue of The Little Mermaid sits on a rock in the Copenhagen harbour at Langelinie. The statue was commissioned in 1909 by Carl Jacobsen (son of the founder of Carlsberg) who had been fascinated by a ballet about the fairytale in Copenhagen’s Royal Theatre.


The statue of The Little Mermaid is only 1.25 metre high and weighs around 175 kg. This small and unimposing statue is a major tourist attraction in Copenhagen. I was attracted by it even at the time when my hair had begun to turn silver. Well, it’s because of Anderson and his fairy tales. They accompanied my childhood with endless imaginations. The fairy tales weave my faith and live together like the song ‘If we hold on together’ sang by Diana Ross.

Don't lose your way
With each passing day
You've come so far
Don't throw it away
Live believing
Dreams are for weaving
Wonders are waiting to start
Live your story
Faith, hope & glory
Hold to the truth in your heart

If we hold on together
I know our dreams will never die
Dreams see us through to forever
Where clouds roll by
For you and I



It seems that The Little Mermaid has also moved the emotion of the Thai people. Within the city of Songkhla(宋卡) is the most popular beach at the Samila cape. The famous mermaid statue is standing at this beach. My friend Tay Ah Huat took the shot for me. Twelve years later he rose up into the kingdom of god.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

天若有情天亦老

2009年2月14日情人节,Valentine day,早晨的天空飘着细雨,增添几分浪漫。

跟博物馆的朋友到先贤馆一游。在严肃地面对先驱人物及大时代之余,叫人窝心的是女士小姐们都收到家明的玫瑰花。什么时候家明已经静悄悄的如大国崛起,成为大众情人了!



情人节的‘情人’,也可泛指有情之人,因为我们有情,才会在先贤馆追寻先人的足迹。套句韩山元山叔的话(大概):“各位走在先贤馆的地板上,其实到处都是陈嘉庚的脚印。陈嘉庚天上有知,可能也在向各位招手微笑。”

林清如(怡和轩主席,林清祥的弟弟。)是其中一位有情人。在他的建议下,今天我们得以平静地看待历史,在先贤馆一窥过去华人海外求存发展的缩影。

陈嘉庚也是有情人,他的情已经超越个人,扩大到对国家对民族的热爱。

从17岁到76岁,陈嘉庚把人生最宝贵的年华奉献给新加坡。陈嘉庚17岁从厦门集美村南来,一手打造出自己的商业王国。


取诸社会,用诸社会,陈嘉庚‘毁家办学’,在新中两地创办学校。除了在集美、厦门办学,新加坡的华侨中学、南侨中学,爱同、道南、崇福等多所中小学校,都是由陈嘉庚创办,或得到过他长期资助,用于办学的款额高达一亿美元。陈嘉庚临终前把遗产三百万元人民币全部献给中国。

1937年抗日战争爆发,陈嘉庚投入抗日救亡运动中。1938年10月,南洋华侨筹赈祖国难民总会(简称南侨总会)成立时,以怡和轩为总部。当选为南侨总会主席的陈嘉庚就一直住在这里,领导南侨总会开展支援中国抗战的各项工作。他组织三千多名南侨机工回国抗战,千余名机工在血肉筑成的滇缅公路上牺牲,战后生还的机工不受国民党认同,文革期间又怕被当成前国民党余孽清算;身处夹缝间,只能过着隐姓埋名与逃亡的日子。最终他们还是在云南被红卫兵揪出来,命运坎坷!

1949年新中国成立,1950年陈嘉庚告别了生活六十多年的新加坡,只身回国,参与新中国的建设。1961年8月12日在北京病逝,享年八十八岁。

陈共存在口授的《陈嘉庚新传》提到陈嘉庚的晚年:极左派认为他是资本家,国外认为他是共产党左派的同路人,左右不逢源。陆川问我陈嘉庚属于悲剧人物吗?我倒觉得他无怨无悔地过了一生。

陈嘉庚与中国共产党主席毛泽东互敬互重。1941年6月,陈嘉庚从新加坡到延安,毛泽东留陈嘉庚吃饭,用自己栽种的角豆、西红柿招待陈嘉庚,只是特地上了一味鸡汤。毛泽东说:“我没有钱买鸡,这只鸡是邻居老大娘知道我有远客,送给我的。”陈嘉庚看了看饭菜,意味深长地对毛泽东说:“得天下者,共产党也!”

毛泽东文武才干世上少见,英雄造时势,时势造英雄。意气风发之时,诵道:“天高云淡,望断南飞雁。不到长城非好汉,屈指行程二万。”



他的一句‘不到长城非好汉’,使我对长城眷恋不已。1993年趁着年少气盛,和妻轻骑上阵,长城万里、滚滚黄沙。时光一转十五载,轮到孩子们陪我到居庸关圆梦去了。




居庸关是历史上著名的古战场。居庸关是天险,一夫当关,万夫莫开,却又屡屡失守。明末顾炎武闻说居庸关被李自成攻破,曾感慨地说:“地非不险,城非不高,兵非不多,粮非不足也,国法不行,人心去也。”

元代萨都剌诗云:“居庸关,山苍苍。关南暑多关北凉。天门晓开虎豹卧,石鼓昼击云雷张。关门铸铁半依空,古来几度壮士死。草根白骨弃不收,冷雨阴风泣山鬼。”道出了沉痛的千古哀怨!

万里长城所蕴藏的中华民族2000多年的文化艺术的内涵十分丰富。李白“长风几万里,吹度玉门关”,王昌龄“秦时明月汉时关,万里长征人未还”,王维“劝君更进一杯酒,西出阳关无故人”,岑参“忽如一夜春风来,千树万树梨花开”等名句,千载传诵不绝。

站在长城看长城的险峻是一番滋味,在承德普陀宗乘之庙(小布达拉宫)眺望长城,想象关北的苍凉,是另一番滋味。结合历史看长城,更是别有一番滋味在心头。



毛泽东在1936年写下的沁园春•雪,如长城般豪气万丈:
北国风光,千里冰封,万里雪飘。
望长城内外,惟余莽莽;大河上下, 顿失滔滔。
山舞银蛇,原驰蜡象,欲与天公试比高。
须晴日,看红装素裹,分外妖娆。

江山如此多娇,引无数英雄竞折腰。
惜秦皇汉武,略输文采;唐宗宋祖,稍逊风骚。
一代天骄,成吉思汗,只识弯弓射大雕。
俱往矣,数风流人物,还看今朝。

李白王维,秦皇汉武,毛泽东陈嘉庚,都属于过去的人物。随着大环境的改变,今天我们可以客观地直面过去许多值得争议的人物和事迹。作为有情人,在追名逐利、社会责任、历史使命与个人取舍间,该怎么定位,如何考量?

还是别叫生命太沉重,珍惜当下,如瑞英所说,how long to live with is not totally decided by me; I could only decide on the quality of life and that is the direction I am living towards.......I enjoy and treasure every moment when I am alive....

Monday, February 09, 2009

Love infatuation or Love connection?

有人说每个快乐开心的结局都是一样的,因此欢乐的记忆也是短暂的;只有悲剧式的情节才能触动人的内心世界,叫人感动,深深震撼,永远难忘。

那些能够流传多年的金曲,叫人午夜梦迴的,在Karaoke常唱的,在龙虎榜上居高不下的,十之八九都带着丝丝难过、缕缕无奈。是不是一定要有遗憾,生命才能完美?

John 和 Wendy是夫妻,一个印度人与一个美国人在英国读书,过后双宿双飞,‘入赘’新加坡,在同一个教会服务。他们的跨国跨文化婚姻本身就是传奇;宗教把他们带到从没到过的新加坡,还成为新加坡的一分子,这是另一个传奇。

上星期五听他们分析了辅导工作上面对的各种男女感情问题,虽然情节各异,但主线相同,离不开Love infatuation 与 Love connection 的定律。

新加坡的离婚率节节上升,此外每三人中有一人搞婚外情。婚姻能否持久,很大程度取决于是否能从‘爱的迷惑’提升到‘爱的维系’的阶段。要做到这一点,男女双方都必须付出,每星期必须花上十五到二十小时好好过个二人世界。不只是初恋情人该如此,老夫老妻更应该如此。否则同在一个屋檐下编织着不同的梦,大家的心情都不好受。

对现代人来说,每周十五到二十小时的付出真的很累很累。

有人打趣说:“当年琴棋书画诗酒花,如今柴米油盐酱醋茶。后果可想而知!”

有人建议或许现代女性应该向性服务者学习,看看为什么男人宁愿偷葷冒爱滋的风险也不想看家里的黄脸婆。

黄脸婆?她是怎么成为黄脸婆的?当年你不是很乐意接受她一辈子吗?她的唠叨不是细心吗?她的嫣语不是浪漫吗?她的随性不是魅力吗?她的缺点不就是你心目中的优点吗?过了些年,怎么细心变成唠叨?浪漫变成奢侈?随性变成放荡?优点都变成缺点了?

一对怨偶在回想两人相处的日子里,似乎没有什么欢乐时光,一点值得回味的生活片段都没有。为什么?

人在回想过去的时候,多是不如意之事常八九。为什么?

伤痛的烙印难以磨灭,心头放不下,还能如意吗?

谢谢柯达。摄影技术从菲林提升到数码世界,照片把快乐永留。多一点快乐的回忆,人生便会少一些感伤。多一份感恩,便更能打开心扉,接受人生本就不完美的事实;多一份感恩,便更乐意接受不完美,但值得互重、真诚相待的伴侣。能够走完漫漫人生路,因为有你。

为她捕捉霎那间的永恒吧!有缘珍惜眼前人,本身就是一种快乐。