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Bon Journal

E-mail from dad

In days of upheaval, it is only natural that unmarried persons will think over some way to get rid of loneliness. I can recall, in 1949, on the eve of the mass evacuation to Taiwan from the Chinese mainland following the communist army's attack, many people hurriedly married their girlfriends respectively and moved to Taiwan. In 1999, after the tremor on Sept 21, people escaped from mansions and put up tents in parks and lived there for weeks while singles rushed back to be with their parents or other relatives in areas not affected by the tremor. In both cases, people had never felt lonelier.

The real life image of the WTC event is so vivid that we, even in Asia, feel shocked whenever watching it on TV. During the Gulf War, we saw news on TV, the bombing over faraway Iraq. Many catastrophe movies also show vivid holocaust. We saw meteorite knocking our planet (a movie in Paris 3 years ago). They were all different from the WTC event. US reporters don't take miserable photos of children and women in war-torn regions unless the war has nothing to do with the US. So for all people in NYC, that horrible real-life image is a long-term scar in their minds.

With music and work and love you cherish and enjoy with your friends and colleagues, however, I hope you can soon return to normal. After all, real combat is for professional and well-trained soldiers.

3 October 2001 Wednesday