Modernize:

1. To make something suitable for modern needs or habit
2. To adopt modern ways or views

Modern:

1.      Present or recent times

2.      Contemporary

Two real people I met and two real life stories:

<Corolla>

Exactly 27 years ago, Corolla was an innocent teenager just graduated from a college in the colony city.  Bored, ignorant, with a brain full of knowledge from the books, desperate to look at the world through her own eyes, she went on a journey with a few friends to the rural village in the mother land which sounds so familiar but so far away.  The great leader passed away 5 years ago and the successor was the architect of the modernization of the country.  The whole country turned upside down during the turbulent 10 years and with all conflicting information Corolla was curious to find out what was it like.

Corolla and friends stepped on the train with minimal clothing and food.  At the border they changed trains from the electricity driven one to the steam driven.  People in uniformly grey and green got on the train with burden of hope of a greater life elsewhere.  The train attendants sold boxes of food in the form of tiny bits of meat on top of chunks of rice.  Three days later the train stopped on a platform no more than a piece of firm ground in the middle of a mud field.  Corolla got off and in her sandals started another tiring journey into the mud.  Through the woods with mosquitoes keeping company, climbing into the hills with sharp hard rocks paving the way, down the valley with the destination in sight; the village was in the real no mans land.  The electricity cable reminded her that she was in the modern world, but as it only reaches a handful of houses amongst the village she wondered whether the modernization was only an uneventful political exercise.

The village consisted of stone houses scattered between fields of wheat and vegetables.  Doors were often missing, and Corolla could see inside the house there was usually one table, with chairs or no chairs, and a massive clay platform covered with straws and she believed it was the bed.  There might even be a small kitchen with a frying wok or and steel kettle if you were lucky.  Without fail in the middle of the room there was a framed picture of the great Chairman, and there was always a hardback book with a red cover nearby.  In the field there were men and women doing what the job of a cow.  Kids helped out in the field collecting harvest seemingly too heavy on their shoulders. 

People came out of the house and the fields with curiosity on their faces.  They had not had a visitor for a long time.  They were all smiling, just like those in the government official photos.  They were wearing torn and worn down farmer costumes, too big for their bodies without an excess inch of body weight; ill-fitted grass sandals or no shoes.  Disciplined, friendly, naive, they greeted the visitors like brothers and sisters.  They were proud to be the children of the great Chairman and the followers of his teaching.  They were keen to show the visitors from the colony how great the country was under the direction of the Chairman, and the country had now caught up or even exceeded the western country that was ruling the colony.

Corolla and friends received a great reception from the villagers.  They were treated with a feast, with enough rice to compensate all the energy spent in the journey to the village.   They even slaughtered a cow to make lunch, a custom usually reserved for the festivals.  The villagers had been isolated from the outside world for a long time.  There was no means of any communication.  There was no radio or television.  The nearest postbox was beyond the valley.  They follow the lesson of the Chairman that if you wanted the country to be strong you have got to be strong yourself, meaning that the community would try to survive without the help from the outside world.  They did not want the outside world to corrupt their minds.  The outside world was full of enemies against the Revolution.  As far as they were concern, they were living in the Revolution, and were proud to be part of it. 

Corolla just could not believe what she saw.  Time and climate change had no meaning to the village.  Time stood still; nobody had the will to move forward.  Every man and woman appeared to be created by the same mould, smiling the same smile, thinking the same thought.  Corolla felt she would break a few hearts to tell them the news, but that could only be fair to do so.  So she broke the news: the Great chairman was no longer with them; he passed away 4 years ago, a month after the great earthquake. 

All hell broke lose.  How dare these visitors, after receiving the warmest greeting and being treated as brothers and sisters, spread the unthinkable rumour?  How disrespectful could they get, cursing the Chairman death?  Cursing the Chairman meant being the enemy of the Revolution, and the enemy of the country.

Corolla and her friends were outnumbered by a mob of angry villagers.  The mob escorted them to the nearest police station about 10 kilometres away.  They were then locked up in isolation in different cell, with space about the size of a coffee table.  They were forced to urinate in a basket and were given porridge slightly thicker than water.  They were accused of being the secret spy for the colony government and were forced to confess.  They pleaded for their innocence.  They pleaded to speak to their family, who would bring told the villagers that they were speaking the truth.  Over the next two days, they were given 'thought education' consisting mainly of quotes and lessons from the red-covered book.

Corolla later found out the head of the village had suspicion raised as he was told to practise the lessons given by the Chairman, and they were at least a few years old.  Surely with the talent unlimited as the sky the Chairman must had shared more of his wisdom with the world.  The lack of communication meant that the lessons were not passed on from the top.  He made the enquiry, at the same time reported the presence of the spies from the colony.  Two days passed without reply, and the third day followed the unthinkable news.  The local government sent copies of the daily newspaper of the devastating day, with people in the capital mourning the loss of the great Chairman.  The newspaper of a couple of weeks later showed the memorial museum of the Chairman, with the holy body of the Chairman in the centre, admired and worshipped by the common citizens who all claimed to be his children.

Corolla and her friends were released to freedom.  What they saw was sceneries now familiar to them after the long 4 years: mass of people in bereavement, with some sobbing quietly into their handkerchiefs but more crying in hysterias.  Young housewives passed out in the state of hyperventilation.  Mostly people felt abandoned, after investing most of their lives following the Chairman.  They felt the sense of hopelessness.  The Chairman meant to live forever.  What were they supposed to do now their hope had gone suddenly?  Where could they go from here?

Grateful of their hospitality in the beginning of their stay, and seeing so many hearts broken and hope crushed, Corolla felt a sense of connection to the village.  She wanted to do something to help them.  What affected her most was seeing the kids working endlessly in the fields, without asking their parents the reasons of doing so.  She felt that if the villagers were more educated the tragedy of finding out the news 4 years later would not have happened.  Between her and her friends, they collected a few thousands of dollars, and built a small house and bought a few chairs and tables.  One of the friends stayed behind and they recruited another volunteer who just graduated from the teachers training.  They got the children together and started a few lessons.  Initially it was too small a scale to call it a school.  As more kids were recruited the teachers organized proper classes.  As the idea was brought up by Corolla, the villagers named the school after her. 

Corolla continued to get involved in raising funds for the college over the years.  She went back to the village last year.  The village was no longer there, but what was left behind was the school, which had a new building and had more classrooms than she could ever imagined. 

What started off as a world-exploring journey changed one's life forever.

<Yaris>

A few years ago, in a little country situated in the Southeast Asia, and Yaris was a well-respected doctor specializing in delivering babies.  He devoted all his life to his profession, and he considered nothing better to start the day than bringing a new life to the world.  He was grew up in the poor city, and dreamt of making enough money to keep his family away from hunger.  He managed to buy himself a house aged 25 and got married in a modest ceremony.  Then extravagant lifestyle followed as he built up his career bits by bits, as he consolidated his reputation with various research papers.  He developed interest in golf, sailing and sport cars.  He bought himself a massive country house for his family and provided the best educations for his sons and daughters.  Two of them followed his footstep into the medical field and are now respected doctors as well.  He felt his body was not coping from his heavy workload as he felt more and more tired, and he made plans to retire from his work and to travel around the world, when the horrible news strikes.

He was informed that his chronic hepatitis (commonly acquired in that part of the world) has turned itself into cirrhosis.  Unless he has a new liver he won't be able to survive for a few months.  The culture of the Southeast country means there are very few donors around.

One of his friends from the days of university is a now a professor working in the capital city about to hold the great sporting event of the century.  He leant the illness of Yaris and asked him to come over immediately so that Yaris could be better looked after.

With little expectation other than just to see a long lost friend, Yaris stepped on the plane and arrived the capital city.  The new airport is being built for the purpose of the great sporting event, and he wondered whether he could ever step foot on the new airport.  It was a big contrast to his previous impression: people were everywhere, all appearing in a hurry to the next destination.  There were buses packed with people, bicycles dangerously taking the gaps of between the heavy traffic, cars emitting fumes clouding the visibility of the road.  There were decorations and slogan everywhere reminding the citizens the greatest sport party on earth was just a short while away.  There were lots of old building, still, standing with loads of history behind them, but more new modern looking buildings were surrounding the cities.  You could see building sites everywhere.

He arrived the hospital, bypassing the waiting room and the emergency department.   The waiting room was full of people waiting patiently, each with a drip connecting to a bag of fluid hanging from a stand next to the chair.  He made a glimpse to the resuscitation room, and saw an old man lying lifelessly, with a group of doctors fighting against the nature.  The wall was decorated with tiles not unlike those in the toilet next door.  Medics wore short sleeves white coat, shorts, flip-flops so that they were not mistaken as the staff nurses.

Yaris had a long discussion with the professor in his office.  The professor went through his case note and examined him.  He told Yaris the news he had been waiting for: he could get him a liver transplant in a few days.  All he needed to do was to choose what date to come in.  Yaris' blood was taken and underwent tissue typing.  The only thing was that he had to sign a form stating not to disclose information about where he got his liver.  He did not dare to ask anyway and got himself into the private hospital the next week.

The operation was uneventful and Yaris recovered well from the operation.  He was visited by the Professor before he was discharged from the hospital.  He asked the difficult question:  how on earth could he get the liver in a matter of days, while in his country it was something beyond imagination?

The answer was not difficult to guess. 

Prisoners are on death row everyday in the notorious system of the country.  Once, or even before, the death sentence was passed on they got the blood test and tissue typing.  Were they consented about the organ donation?  The answer was not irrelevant as in the system one's life was considered insignificant, let alone someone who was on death row. 

Patients could even choose the date of the operation, and that would determine what date was the donor organ made available.  That also determined whether a cell could be made free to accommodate the next prisoner.

Yaris went home to his daughters.  He did not manage to travel around the world.  He passed away a few months later with infection probably related with decreased immunity as the side effect of a drug he was taking.

<Conclusion>

Time moves on; the scenery has changed; one generation later something still stays the same.  In the age of information technology, with the system run by the government, if the government wants to hide certain information she could still do so. 

For the greatest nation in the world to move forward, modernization of the way information was handled must take place.  But most importantly, people need to accept that they have a right to know, rather than being content to be fed knowledge.  Only then the government could stop being able to control one's mind; only then we can move forward to the next page of the history of the new nation.

〈富士山下〉

(1)

我住在獅子山。我們地方有個傳說：遙遠的富士山，是此處一面鏡。那兒有個一模一樣的獅子山、長得一模一樣的我們，過著幾乎一模一樣的生活。不對，應該是天翻地覆的顛倒！假如你是獅子山的守財奴，在富士山大概最為樂善好施；假如你在獅子山狂妄不可一世，在富士山會謙虛得可能近乎自卑；假如你是獅子山裡熱情如火的萬人迷，富士山的你應該在吃風。

我朝著富士山進發，為的是要得到羅曼蒂的愛。我最親愛的羅曼蒂啊！我倆明明相處得相當不錯，可是每次我向她表白，總是遭到叫人心傷的拒絕。她的理由是：「你就是不明白呀！你懂嗎？」羅曼蒂總是理智的，任何事情都想得清清楚楚、有條有理。我的腦袋結構就完全不同。我甚至不曉得，她究竟說我不懂什麼？

富士山是出路。我要尋到知道多一點的我，又或是知道少一點的羅曼蒂。當然，最好有一個滿懷愛意的羅曼蒂，熱切等待著我前來。

(2)

通往富士山，是一條羊腸小徑。迷霧蒙起我的眼睛，關不住的枝椏從四方八面伸展。我的腳步未因而帶有半分猶疑。不是都說追求愛情總是障礙重重嗎？困難更激起衝勁。

不過，一個人走著實納悶。我想，大家應該明白後來讓我遇上同途中人的興奮吧！使得我急步走向前：「你也是去尋找愛情嗎？」

「什麼『尋找』愛情？愛情需要尋找麼？你懂嗎？」他淡然地笑。這一笑頓時叫我無名火起。「你懂嗎？」是只有羅曼蒂才可以對我質疑呀！

「若是懂，還會在此枯燥乏味的地方遇上你嗎？我何不與情人在溫柔夜色下細訴心曲？你又懂嗎？」我極力反擊。

「所以說你不懂嘛！」他道：「在愛情裡誤打亂撞，不過徒然浪費時間和精神。只要懂得計算愛情公式，便什麼都解決了。」

「真有技巧嗎？請指教、指教。」被人看成懵丙又如何？知道答案最要緊。那我就能快快回到羅曼蒂身邊了。

「決定去愛之前，你接收到對方的訊息或提示嗎？每一句說話或舉動，都是不同代碼。你分析了嗎？有沒有審度時勢？」他確實有分析員的味道：「我不贊成討人便宜，但亦要慎防人家搵你笨。對方送你甜，當然要報以蜜；若得來的是冷淡敷衍，何必自尋煩惱？」

那麼，我的羅曼蒂對我投報的微笑，是迎候還是婉拒？當她問「你懂嗎？」時，是鼓勵？嘲諷？抑或只屬無傷大雅的寒暄？我好像沒溫書便赴試場做選擇題，各項答案都似是而非。

若是知道答案 ……，難道我就順天認命嗎？

No! No! No! 我絕不讓任何問題阻撓對羅曼蒂的愛。

「你的方程式似乎對我不大管用。再見！」我拋下這句，再沒有回頭。

(3)

穿過叢林，是繁榮的市集。街上的人都雙雙對對，叫我渾身不爽。我從未感到如此孤苦伶仃，只想快快離開。

面前來了一對夫婦。我還是忍不住問：「可否告訴我，你倆結合的秘訣嗎？」

丈夫向我遞上這張紙條：

正常婚姻生活時間表

「為什麼會落得一張時間表？連造愛竟要定時限，戀愛的激情往哪裡去了？！」

「有些日子激情不起啊！總得考慮加班和仔女的考試短測嘛。」丈夫如是說。

「因此更要訂明，免得他含混躲懶。」妻子悄聲補充。

我幻想著，我和羅曼蒂每天按時間表做著一式一樣的事情：一年、兩年、三年…… 荒謬，我不相信愛情只有如此下場！

(4)

隨後，是平坦的康莊大道。路好走了，但我行得更戰戰兢兢。

如坊間大多數故事，我在途中還遇到不少曲折，但沒心情再說了。我好倦。再多的經歷，到底沒有令我聰明一點。

終於走到富士山旁的大湖。湖面上的我，差點連自己也認不出來。那一個鬚根滿臉、頭髮蓬鬆、面容憔悴的陌生人。

富士山的我和羅曼蒂，又正如我所盼望嗎？羅曼蒂對我熱情或是更加不可親近？我對羅曼蒂是……，會不會……根本從未愛上？為什麼出發前從未想到這點？

待梳洗過後，我對我開始重新熟悉，信心又回來了。既然離目的地尚餘一步，好歹也去一趟吧！ 

我拍拍心口，出發了。

(5)

進入富士山的範圍，就有種磁力牽引我往一個方向走，因此不費吹灰便到達獅子山。正確來說，應該是富士山下的獅子山。

我曾一度以為自己不過是錯行了回頭路，直至我碰上了我。幸好，最後巧妙地避開雙方的重逢。我才不希望被我質疑「你懂嗎？」繼而教訓一番。我已聽得太多答案！

跑到羅曼蒂跟前，她瞇起兩眼看著我。羅曼蒂依然是我的羅曼蒂！我建議好好去吃頓飯。她認真地考慮良久，終於答應。

Wow，我樂得快要飄上天！有好多好多說話準備和她傾訴。之前見不到她的日子，究竟如何熬過？我還打算把剩下的所有旅費，用來與她上最好的館子 — 哥士打餐廳，吃最好的佳餚。

獅子山(富士山分店) 的哥士打餐廳不會變成最差的食肆吧？

我細意點菜：

菜剛上，羅曼蒂的眼神便擱在那片片用精緻餐碟盛起、經歷36個月才修成、醇厚咸香後舌頭間仍會迴盪著果甜的玫瑰色黑毛豬火腿。她哭了，幽怨得令我不知所措。

「你怎可以如此殘忍？」她仍未停止抽噎：「假如你不認識或不愛我，我還不早成了碟上的火腿？你帶我來，就是要我面對我與同類的下場嗎？」

伍樂之