-^-for posterity-^-

i teach a business english class full of old people. some of them aren’t that old, they may be as old as my parents. to say the least it’s intimidating. they always say i’m very serious. that’s my only defense against my age.

last night they took me out to eat. twenty five of them showed up and some of them brought their wives. the two people that didn’t attend had excuses that they passed on through friends. we went to a restaurant that i’ve never been to before. it’s called “dong que”. it means something about a country field. it was located outside of the city in the middle of nowhere. it was completely surrounded by rice paddies.

we ate as the sun set. to my right there were scores of farmers milling through the fields picking up things and checking on their growing food. people own small plots of land and the land is flat. at one moment you can see four or five families working.

the meal was wonderful. we took pictures and people smiled and shook hands. they bought me a huge birthday cake with my age emblazoned on it in fluorescent icing. twenty three. how feebly young.

i was told “congratulations” a number of times. i found this humorous but didn’t tell anyone. were they telling me that i had done well surviving for twenty three years? they all deserved more adulation than me. they were much older.

one student that never speaks stood up. he never married, has an under bite, is a bit overweight and has a definite comb-over. he said he wanted to sing me a song.

i didn’t expect much from this but sat politely. the music that came out of that man’s mouth can not be described. how can you describe passion and fervor? how can you describe something that wells up inside and explodes out through the mouth? how can i possibly do the song justice? his eyes shut, his face turned back and to one side, his hands were clasped and white in front of him, his mouth cracked open and he sang.

the song was about two lovers during the war with america. they would ride small boats together and smuggle arms past the american boats. their boat made gentle waves behind them as they rode.

what a contrast to war.

i sat listening to this passionate song about revolutionary struggle against america. it was a gift to me on my birthday. my head filled with the music and my eyes were overwhelmed by the passion displayed by this normally reserved student. it was a wonderful gift.