CHAPTER 43

Original (Evergreen News): 2000-09-26

Rewritten: 2025-04-30

My younger son is fascinated by the Olympics, which means that he has good taste and fighting spirit, and he can fight for his own life and future as he grows up, which naturally makes his father happy.

My younger son is eight years old and in the third grade of elementary school. This was the first time he consciously watched the Millennium Olympics in Sydney, Australia on TV. For two weeks in a row, he was extremely excited and watched all kinds of competitions intently. Four years ago, he was only four years old, too young to pay much attention to watching the Olympic Games held in Atlanta, USA. Lun doesn't look directly at the TV screen most of the time. He only watches flashing special effects clips such as those in Star Wars. It can be said that he is dismissive of sports competitions.

My younger son may be influenced by us and is also fascinated by watching swimming, sprinting and gymnastics. Every other day, he would ask me to have a swimming competition with him. The venue was the residents' swimming pool in the housing estate, which was ten meters long. Stand at the starting point and jump into the imaginary swimming lane as hard as you can. Experts can reach the finish line by just jumping their legs in the water without paddling.

We made our own rules and swam back and forth four times, one stroke each time. Because it was an “unfair” race, he could use backstroke instead of a stroke he was not familiar with, and he swam quite well. I had to try my best to catch up with him. He also has an advantage, which is that he can turn back halfway, that is, five meters, while I have to swim the entire distance. He is very happy every time he wins. Fortunately, he did not invite me to run or do gymnastics.

He found two pieces of gold paper that had been used to wrap chocolates, and cut the corrugated paper into a circle to make a gold medal. I suggested that we both pretend to be athletes receiving awards, with gold medals around our necks, and then sing the national anthem facing the flag, put some water on the corners of our eyes to fake tears, and "pretend" to be moved.

The Olympic Games brings together the world's elite athletes to compete at the highest level and in the best possible condition. It is a celebration of national, ethnic and personal honor and is extremely exciting to watch every four years. The younger son is fascinated, which means that he has good taste and fighting spirit, and can fight for his own life and future as he grows up, which naturally makes his father happy. Lun has lived a peaceful life since childhood, enjoying himself, not worrying about the world, and living a carefree life. However, his life and happiness are mainly determined by the people who take care of him. The living conditions and lifestyles of the two brothers are basically different.

Four years later, at the Athens Olympics in Greece, my younger son was already twelve years old, had finished seventh grade, and had entered adolescence. Lun was eighteen years old, and in another year he would be nineteen, and would be legally an adult. By then, the younger brother will be able to appreciate the Olympics better, and Lun should be prepared to face life arrangements after adulthood. The scene will be completely different then.

(Postscript: In the 2010 Whistler Winter Olympics in Canada, my younger son participated in the opening ceremony and the volunteers danced to celebrate. He still talks about it with great relish.)