One afternoon on a sunny warm autumn day, I walked along a path between the Charles Riverbank and a dense forest in Waltham. I saw an unoccupied chair, on a flat quiet place close to the river, was alone under the sun. I went to sit on the chair and sunbath together with the chair. While sitting there, I watched a piece of wood which looked like an alligator in the nearby water. I also watched small boats on the far side of the river. I also watched a light blue water tank on the top of a hill on the other side of the river. I started to daydream …

Suddenly, I heard a voice behind me: “What are you watching?”

I turned around and saw a very tall big old man with a cane was slowly walking toward the chair.

I quickly stood up: “I am watching the alligator.”

“What are you watching?”

I rose my voice and said slowly: “I – Am – Watching – The – Alligator.”

The man walked with his cane to the front of the chair, tiled his head to look at the river, and said happily: “Ooh, the alligator is scary!”

I noticed his cane head has a camera and asked loudly: “Your cane carries a video camera?”

The man lowered his head and turned his ear toward me to carefully listen to me question and answered: “It is a binocular.”

He immediately lifted the cane up and looked through it: “I should have said it is a monocular.”

I thought to myself: He is very careful on using words correctly, and I said: “Are you walking alone?”

“Yes, I am walking alone.”

I looked around the river and the woods said: “Here is very quiet, it is better to walk with someone else.”

“I wish someone could walk with me here.”

Before I left, I said to him: “Enjoy the weather.”

I continue on walking along the riverside trail heading south, I bypassed a children’s playground and a wood with scattered chairs, I reached a main road, then I turned around walked back on the same trail. On the way back, I saw the tall big old man who has a cane equipped with a monocular slowly walking toward me, it seems the cane is a necessary part for his balance. I guessed he walked at least 2 to 3 kilometers to finish this journal today.

During COVID-19, we often heard the message: “Seniors please stay home”. This old man was not only walk outside alone, but also tried to chat with a stranger, very brave!

A Few Episodes

The chair on a flat quiet place close to the river and the alligator in the river.

The quiet surrounding.

The alligator in the river.

Chinese Version

Today is Tuesday. My daughter invited me to join a casual gathering of Israeli visiting scholars and students on campus in the evening. She said: “So you can experience college life again.”

During the gathering, the visiting scholars and the students sang a lots of popular Hebrew songs. Though I could not understand the meaning of the lyrics, I enjoyed the beautiful voices and the bright smiles from the singers.

The gathering was held in a modern meeting place that has room for about 20 people. The meeting place was filled with electronic equipment, including sound system, light system, big screens and a projector, an electronic piano, a few electronic guitars, and many wired and wireless microphones…

My memory flashed back to my own college life (1981-1985), more than thirty years ago. We only gathered on holidays, never on regular school days. Our holiday gatherings always took place in the class room where the only electronic device was the light bulb. During our gatherings, we drum-passed a flower, sang songs, cracked jokes, recited poems, and asked each other riddles. In my college life, very few of my classmates knew how to play music instruments. In today’s college society, it seems every student is capable of playing music instruments, singing, and dancing.

These things will touch me more deeply if I see the big differences between now and then. Tonight’s gathering touched me deeply.

More than thirty years’ of technology and culture advance created these opportunities for students to show off their talents on well quipped stages during school day casual gathering, this is wonderful!

Siting among joyful college students, I experienced the youthful college life for a second time. I was quietly delighted, a good feeling that came from age and life-experience.

I hope all the kids in college will have a wonderful college life.

Side Note: The style of college students

I used to hear lots of joke about a software developers’ favorite style is jeans with checkered shirt. Tonight, I noticed that college students wear jeans and sneakers too, but none of them wear checkered shirts. One of the very active student, a senior who majored in economics, was dressed from head to toe in various blue things: blue shoes, blue jeans, and blue sweater. It was very handsome.