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The article attached before was written by my dad, Jeff
My Son, As I View Him
How can I describe my son, Xue Song?
He's intelligent and inquisitive. In fact,probably no characteristic defines him as much as his ability to ask questions.Almost on a daily basis he asks questions—about the US, about life, about philosophy,English, magazines, technology, well, anything you could think of. It's alittle hard to keep up with sometimes.
He's caring and affectionate. He'll send me music or a link to a web site.He'll always hug and kiss me in our conversations and tell me he loves me notonce but three times.
He’s dedicated and persevering. He alwaysworking to improve his English, often by himself. One of his amazing qualitiesis that he’s learned a lot of English on his own, through his own efforts. I’mproud that he’s gone as far as he has.
He's demanding. He asks for all sorts of favors—download an article or send himsomething (or write this essay) and wants reassurance—do I love him? Why,especially if he hasn't "done anything" for me?
He's adult—he travels all over, gets jobs, understands, with all his trials andtribulations, that life is hard—yet he retains the innocence of youth, in hisnaiveté, his dreams, his yearning, his passions (like for SpongeBob) anddisappointments, maybe most of all for his unwavering regard for his dad acrossthe ocean.
He can be silly sad, and (rarely) petulant, although most of the time he'scheerful and fun.
We met on the China Daily BBS. His screen name was zhangxs. zhangxs askedendless questions and ended his headings of his posts with several questionmarks (fumble 可以直接用
？？？？？？？？？？), as if to point to the urgency of his requests or the depths ofhis confusion. His questions weren't silly—some were easier to answer thanothers and some were downright mystifying. At that time he worked an IT newseditor and benchmarker for some website and often read the British technologyweb site The Inquirer which had itsown arcane lingo. We spent a fair amount of time puzzling out (and explaining)such terms as Chipzilla (Intel) and the Vole (Microsoft) before discovering acomprehensive glossary on the site itself. (world+dog or everybody+dog wastotally confusing.)
At some point we just started chatting byGmail. At first our conversation were just innocuous chit-chat but over timethey got deeper. Xue Song was a mix of worldly sophistication—he liked reading The Economist and TIME—and goofy childlike naiveté—he was a big fan of SpongeBobSquarepants.
He loved dictionaries andwanted an American Heritage Dictionary.(I sent him a SpongeBob and an AHD.) I was "promoted" from being XueSong's uncle to his dad; I didn't want to usurp his loving, devoted parents buthe seemed to want me as a dad, and, honestly, I wanted him as a son.
He got laid off from his IT job and spent along time looking for work. We chatted nearly every day and although he didn'tseem too depressed about not finding a job, I wanted to keep his spirits up. Heasked me all sorts of questions, about what I read, about my view of certainthings, and, especially, about his ability in English. I could reassure himagain and again but it didn't seem to matter much. He wanted reassurance, notbecause he was insecure, but just as a big hug—I was there for him andsupported him.
He briefly found a job doing translationsin Nanjing andwe spent many nights (they were nights for me) trying to figure out such thingsas the tri-colored pottery of the Tang Dynasty. When he lost that job, Ithought he might have a long spell of looking for another but he found onequickly at Baosteel in Shanghaiand impressed everyone with his ability in English. He made friends and onerespected, older translator, Mr Ma,
gavehim some quality vinegar. I was really proud of him.
Eventually, though, there was a dark stormgathering. Xue Song was suffering from deep depression. I remember his words: “ican't keep it under the hood” any longer. I was really worried about him. Luckily,I asked another friend to find a mental health clinic in Shanghai and told Xue Song to go there. Hedid and, for a time, he seemed to be getting better. A devastating earthquakein Sichuanoccurred in May, 2008, and Xue Song (somewhat impetuously, I thought) ran offto help the earthquake victims. He didn't get hurt and, in fact, seemed in highspirits. He met one of his closest friends, Little Pepper, there.
But there was actually a different problem.Xue Song suffered from bipolar disorder, not just depression. Were those highspirits, that ebullient, fast-talking streak that made him friends at Baosteelsigns of that disorder? It's hard to say. Together we tried to figure out theright course of action—the right doctor to see, the right medication to takeand how much. We became even closer than before. We’re still working on gettingthe right medication for him.
I had my own problems, too, of course. Akidney stone. A car accident or two. Through it all, Xue Song was caring,comforting, encouraging. He sent me music and gave me hugs. He was there for meas I was for him.
And what has he “done for me”? Well, Inever imagined I’d have a son as loving as he is and, as a result, I’ve becomemore loving, too. He’s made me feel more fully human, more fully myself in a way I didn’t expect. Byloving him as I do, he made me appreciate the love my own father has for me even more in a way I hadn’t before. And, so,even though, he often thinks he hasn’t done anything for me, maybe he’s done alot more than he might think.
Demanding and generous. Wise and naive.Full of questions. Protective and caring, yet wanting reassurance. It's acliché to say he's a bundle of contradictions but it would be false to say Ilove him in spite of his contradictions. His contradictions make him even morelovable. So kudos and a hug to my terrific, loving and lovable son! He’s abetter son than I could ever have imagined. He means the world to me. He’severything to me.
Your loving dad |
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楼主: ZHANGXS05
雷达卡
楼主
发表于 10-9-16 23:28:48
haha ,my god!I have forgotten all about english,and I'm suer you will laugh at me .