Language and Culture

Nothing Last Forever－Learning From Losing

----- Original Message -----
From: Students at Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages
To: letters@taipeitimes.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 1:29 AM
Subject: To Contribute an Editorial From Students


Nothing Last Forever－Learning From Losing

From cradle to tomb, it’s inevitable that what we have earlier and lose later.
There is always something going on around you, somehow, of which you can
do nothing about it and see it happening. Losing is to changing as changing to life.
Life won’t be a life without the progress of changing. However, everyone has
emotions to deal with. Facing a village full of memories is about to perish is quite
sorrowful even though we’d learned that it’ll be gone sooner or later. It’s just a
matter of time.

In fact, veteran villages won’t be gone, but changing its look. The government
has declared that they would remove all the veteran flat houses. When the policy
was issued, we couldn’t help but felt depressed. It’s because that the place those
people used to live and laugh will never be the same.

We had to face the fact that veteran flat houses being pulled down for the
sake of city development. It’s hard to tell that it’s right or wrong. Although it’s kind of sad that policies that were made to demolish historied buildings so as to set up modern ones. However, an island nation like Taiwan, the government has to figure out a way to make the most use of its limited land so that people will be able to live a better life.

Losing is just another term for changing and changing is necessary to carry
on living.



Students at Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages
1092100025 Reggie Lin
1093100016 Daniel Liao
1093100030 Betsy Wen
1093100032 Jill Wang
1093100035 Claire Hou
1093100047 Jocelyn Chen

-- (The poem we choose)

One Art ~ BY Elizabeth Bishop


The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster,

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.



I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three beloved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

-- Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) a disaster.

posted by Aiden @ 6:37 PM