27 September, 2014 a.m., Sunny
My friend and I looked down from the footbridge. I asked him, “What will become of our city?”
He answered airily, “The city will give us an answer in due course.”
Thinking back of the days and nights that happened since, I find them as vivid as when I encountered them; and the strained emotions and nuances of the moving body constituted an unforgettable moment of my life.
“Good day good night,” coming from strangers, who are also fellow beings. It is a simple yet strong sentence, which makes me still feel warm about this city. Photography might have been an old friend, yet after this year of seemingly normal life, he has become more like a stranger to me. Just like the strangers on the streets, you no longer say “Good day good night” to them.
Though our bodies are not shredded into pieces like being tossed into a meat grinder, our spirits are indeed fallen into a burning furnace; we break apart from different people, and we blend with some others. One year has passed, and I stretch out my hand, touching the substance that flows out of the furnace. The outer layer has cooled down and become hard, and within there is still a consistent heat.
After another ten years, will we still be as tough and strong as on that day? Will our memories remain fresh after repeated washing by the tides of time? Friends may still be, or may be no more, and they say nothing matters anymore……
South Ho
