The Island Keeper / 小島管理員

「絕無完全空白的空間或時間這回事，總是有可以觀看或聆聽的事物。」 約翰凱吉

There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always something to see, something to hear.” --John Cage


大多數對於每天重複的日常公事視為理所當然，或者會有被困於其中的感覺。上個星期末，我們得到了一個特別的機會體驗超現實的生活，因為H1N1，班上放了五天假，但我是唯一有特權的人，可以依舊重複著每日的模式，去學校、上愛班的課、在辦公室裡改作業做教材，改變的地方在於去到善班的教室時，只有拉起來的窗簾和四散的講義和我打招呼。

Most of us so take the repeated daily routines for granted, or we feel helplessly trapped. At the end of last week, my class was rewarded with a very unique opportunity for a surreal life experience. We were given five days off “thanks to” HINI. But I was the only privileged lucky one, being permitted to carry on with my everyday work, give lectures to Class Love, grade assignments and prepare teaching materials in the office. The only and the biggest difference was that whenever I entered our classroom, I was greeted only by the somber-looking curtains and scattered handouts on the dusty floor.

我的生活繼續，不過我的身分變得有些空洞，我們因為太習慣自己的角色，很少存以質疑，這幾天我卻開始想，我身為老師的地位是相對於學生，而且是現在這些特定的女孩，之前的或之後的，其實都不存在於目前的時間空間，畢竟我們的存在有絕對性的價值、卻也有相對性的意義。

My work life continued, but I wasn’t so sure about my identity as a teacher. We are so used to our various roles that few would question the validity of each. During the past few days, it dawned on me that my role as a teacher makes sense because of the existence of students, and only confirmed by these specific girls I have at present. Those I encountered in the past or will encounter in the future, in terms of realistic factors, don’t validate my current status at work. I am not denying the absolute significance of our existence, but we can by no means overlook the relative meanings of our roles in life.

停課的最後一天，我到教室裡去晃晃，讓桌椅吹吹風，我一邊記錄我的想念，然後我默默地說，能夠被困在每天的例行瑣事裡，是種看似平凡的奢侈。我在留下記號的同時，班上的每個人用自己的方式和我共鳴，只能和鳥為伴的Pamela寫了一首很棒的俳句，我一定要和大家分享：(邊打的時候改了幾個小地方，希望Pamela不要介意)

On the day before the girls returned, I decided to go for a look at the empty classroom, airing the space a little bit, and uttering my feeling in the pictorial form. I said to myself, “Isn’t it a seemingly ordinary luxury to be trapped in petits train-trains?” After all, that is a sign saying nothing goes wrong.

While I was leaving marks, everyone in class echoed back to me in their respective ways. Pamela, isolated in her small cell and accompanied by a pet bird, created a superb haiku, which I definitely have to share with the world here: (I revised it a little while typing. The broad-minded Pamela will forgive me for that.)

Ciao, Miss You
This is a short haiku
A small gift for you
You know on Friday there was a sudden news
That we’d been defeated by the flu
Three days in the classroom no “Bonjour”
You were the only one left to suffer the solitude
The bad mood loomed
Oh, poor Miss You
But I don’t have a clue
Why there was no panic found in your attitude
You should have been blue
I think maybe you were being mute
Oh, strong and calm Miss You
So much we’ve been through
Life would suck without you
At this very moment we parachuted
Together developing our long love affair
Remember,
Love will always be with our
Sweetest Miss You
--by Pamela Huang