Have you ever thought about turning back time? There should be
some happy moments in the past that you want go back and have it all again.
It was 2099, Dr. Sushi invited me to his laboratory in Japan. He
has made a refrigerator to store human memories. These memories will be
retrieved from human brain, and transferred to some chocolate cubes, which will
then be kept in his new product, the refrigerator of human memories. I was
invited by him for a purpose, to be his 'laboratory mice'.
The chocolate cubes being used were made of edible gold which are
of high costs. These cubes can store human memories, mainly feelings. Each cube
can store human memories of about a day. When you want to go back to a
particular moment in the past, you can just eat the chocolate cubes with
memories saved. It will bring you back to the time as you desired.
I have picked 3 sets of memories to be saved and to be experienced
again.
1. The day when I was born. I want to feel the purest joy at home,
where all my family members celebrated for their newly born member. This
happiness faded over time, when the baby started to grow up, became rebellious
and finally left the family to pursue his dreams.
2. The first love that I met. It was the greatest gift that you
will never have it again in your life. Innocent, true, pure and unselfish…
3. The moment when I lost my life. It was silly to go back to a
sad moment but I want to take it as a chance to refresh myself about the place
where I fell, and I will never repeat the mistake again.
The chocolate cubes were working. I was brought back into the
memories. However, the feelings were different.
As time goes by, we learned and we grow at the same time. The
perception that we hold towards things in life changes over time. Something
that you feel extremely important in the past might not be as important right
now. There is no point to turn back time. Why don't we look forward to the
future and move on?
At the end of the experiment with Dr. Sushi, I told him that the
chocolate cubes failed to work. Hence, the launching of the refrigerator was
not successful.
There are some unsent letters from
me, my brother, my sister-in-law, and my beloved nephew. They were all written
in our hearts, time will help us to send out the letters when it is time.
Letter from me
I was in London when I got a call
from my sister-in-law. My nephew, Tommy, has been diagnosed with leukemia. He
is the first kid of my brother, 7 years old this year. I still remember that he
was born on the Valentine’s Day of 2006.
I have never talked to my brother
for years. There were some misunderstanding between us and no one has initiated
to solve them. One of the reasons I moved to London was to avoid seeing them
and I just wanted to have a little peace for myself. That was selfish which I
started to admit when years passed by.
Over the years, I realized that
how important my family has meant for me. There is hardly someone out there who
truly cares about you except your family member. However, my life has been
settled down here in London, it is hard for me to go back and living like the
old times.
Finally, I have a rational reason
to go back to my hometown. I need to visit my nephew. He is too young and too
innocent to fight with leukemia, who knows what is happening next after the
chemotherapy treatment. He has yet to seen the world. He needs to go around the
world to explore the other sides of the world.
Letter from my brother
My brother has moved to London
some years ago. I have never seen him for quite a while. When he was young, I
was almost like his second father. Dad always works at overseas. He is the
youngest kid in the house and he has to hold my hands to feeling secured before
falling to sleep.
In his seventeen, typically the
age of teenage rebellion, he started to change. He was once the top student in
school but not anymore after he got some new friends. They hung out together
after school and usually came home late. The situation and their relationship
became complicated that I do not really want to talk about it again.
Probably I have been too harsh on
him in this issue that made him feeling annoyed of me. Since then, we seldom
talk and he tried not to talk to me about anything. I was trying to help him,
to lead him not going into a wrong direction but it did not seem working. In
2007, he left home.
Letter from my sister in law
I have never expected this to
happen in my life. I would trade whatever I have to recover my kid. The
chemotherapy has been going on for nearly half a year. This was the last
treatment and we will be having a little celebration after leaving the hospital.
It has been a while, I could not
have any sound sleep since the day Tommy was diagnosed with leukemia. I
understand that it is a long journey to the road of recovery. This is a
challenge in my life that God wants me to get through and I will be strong. If
I am not strong, how is Tommy going to get through it?
Letter from my nephew
Everyone is worrying about me. I
know that something has happened to my body but I do not want to see people
around me being unhappy. Whether how bad is my situation going to be tomorrow,
I just want to live happily today.
I heard that Uncle Joe is coming
back. It has been a long time since the last time I saw him. Uncle Joe seldom
talks to dad. I am not sure about what happened to them in past. I hope that
Uncle Joe could move back from London one day so that I would ask him to teach
me painting and playing the piano.
The Greatest Love of All by Whitney Houston
I believe the children are our are
future
Teach them well and let them lead
the way
Show them all the beauty they
possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make
it easier
Let the children's laughter remind
us how we used to be
Everybody searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to
I never found anyone who fulfill
my needs
A lonely place to be
So I learned to depend on me
I decided long ago, never to walk
in anyone's shadows
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I'll live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all
And if by chance, that special
place
That you've been dreaming of
Leads you to a lonely place
Find your strength in love
Tommy passed
away 1 year after the chemotherapy treatment. He had some mild infection but
his body was too weak to survive from the infection. Sometimes, human beings
are fragile, as fragile as dust.
It is 2014,
January, this is the first year I am going back my hometown to celebrate
Chinese New Year. I miss my home. Long live my family....
‘We can’t turn back time, 10
years was enough for us. We ain’t love each other anymore. I need to quit this
please.’ said Lisa. Her eyes were flooded with tears, it was hard to say this
but she has to end this relationship for being together with Johan, a famous
filmmaker whom she met during a catwalk session in Shanghai. The sparkle of
love that she used to cherish with Paul has lost in nowhere.
Though it has been nearly 3
months since Lisa left, Paul could never get over the split up. He thought that
he was working hard enough to secure their future. He has been working days and
nights with the numbers to earn better for their living. Being a typical
accountant in Hong Kong, he usually spends 6 full days in the office, except
allowing himself for 6 hours sleeping everyday. However, Lisa felt being
ignored, this was not something that she thinks could work for their future.
On the 9th of September,
2009, Lisa was married to Johan in a grand wedding. Their wedding was reported
by the media vastly. This was the night where Paul got himself drunk on the
road. He threw away the newspapers with a series of photo from Lisa’s wedding
published. He kept walking unconsciously until he came to an old abandoned
railway station.
Paul found a schedule pasted
on the wall. There will be a midnight train at 3 a.m. heading to the year 2199.
The schedule stated that this is the once and the only chance offered every 100
years by the future. It is said that ‘2199’ is an era where lost love will be
found and love will be eternal. It is basically a paradise that human beings
have been longed for.
‘Welcome to Midnight Train
2199, you are guest number 98!’
A robotic lady in metallic
silver wear welcomed Paul when he stepped in the train. He got himself a seat
next to the window. The train was driven so fast that he could not even see
anything outside from the window. He was not sure about where he would be taken
to but this could be the last hope that he has to get back the love he lost. He
met people who have lost love like him. They were all having the same purpose,
they wanted to live eternally with their loved ones.
Paul was not aware about how
long time has passed until he heard the robotic lady spoke again, ‘ Welcome to
Midnight Train 2199, you are guest number 99!’ The sudden floral smell caught
his attention. A lady passed by, and she is Lisa.
Paul asked the robotic lady,
'What's the time now and how long it will take to reach 2199?'
The robotic lady replied,
'We are now in 2011, soon we will be reaching 2199. Please be patient!' Paul
realized that he has already traveled from 2009 to 2011.
Lisa was surprised to meet
Paul in the train. They sat together and started to chat. Lisa told him that
after 2 years of marriage, Johan divorced her. She was trying to look for Paul
but he seemed to have lost since their break up.
Paul and Lisa did not mention
about the reason they took the train during the conversation along the journey
to 2199, but they both understand that they hope they could turn back time and
live together eternally.
It is common in human
beings. We usually do not know how much something is valuable to us until we
lost them. We try everything to get back things that we lost and we usually not
sure about whether we are still offered a second chance. Most of the time,
things are beyond our control. Precious things are always temporal, such as
love.
‘Attention dear passengers!
Our train has experienced some technical problem, we are now traveling
backwards all the way to 1999. We will try our best to get you to 2199 soon.’
It was the 99th day since Paul got in the
midnight train. He slowly realized that there was no paradise in 2199 and the
train will never reach 2199. However, this is a place where he leaded himself
towards a journey of self recovery and discovery. He met Lisa and relearn every
moment that they have missed when they were attached. God has offered them a
chance to recollect those sweet memories they had over the past ten years while
they learned a new lesson about love.
The train was about to stop
at 1999. This was the year when Paul and Lisa were 17 years old and they have
yet to meet each other. Paul and Lisa stared at each other for about 5 minutes,
and then they kissed for 9 minutes. They smiled at each other and boarded the
train. That was for the eternity.
Oh
love, we don’t have to look for eternity, the eternity sits in our memories,
the memories live in our heart, till we die and forever....
The photo above was framed by the Polish photographer, Marcin Ryczek, in his hometown Krakow. He has posted this photo online and received overwhelming response. The first great element in this photo which I like is the balanced composition, where white snow and dark river that contribute to the impressive visual contrast while the silhouette of a man and the white swans being the balancing factors. It can be seen as the symbol of Yin Yang, representing the postive and negative forces. It is a simple but powerful frame that encourages subjective interpretation.
The Graph of Life, Marcin Ryczek
'The Graph of Life' is another frame with simple elements from Marcin Ryzek. The upward horizontal lines look like a leading direction of the journey of a man's life while the straight vertical lines symbolise a jail that has taken away his freedom. It is yet subject to interpretation of viewer. Ryczek is a minimalist, his style is usually graphical and geometrical. I like how simplicity can convey big messages. We can include a number of elements in one frame but sometimes it's hard to eliminate these elements to achieve a simple yet strong photo. Minimalism is an element that I always wish to achieve in my works as it contributes to clean and clear impression.
Hiroshima - Phoenix Rising from the Ashes, Marcin Ryczek
