To Differentiate and To Recollect

翠袖乾坤：辨別與記憶

Wen Wei Po (香港文匯報) Supplement
Date: February 17, 2008
Author: Man Kit Wah

http://paper.wenweipo.com/2008/02/17/OT0802170003.htm
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Translated by Daydreamer on February 20, 2008

Once in a commemorative activity for Leslie Cheung, a junior high pupil stood up and said, “I really envy those of you who grew up with Gorgor for having the opportunity to spend the different phases of life with him together, and for knowing such a beautiful personage …” He said this seriously as if talking about a piece of art.

Lately, people mourned the death of Heath Ledger, the actor in “Broke Back Mountain”. Beautiful people passed away one after the other. If looking at it from an all-alike perspective, they were possibly like a river that flew by, or like the surf we saw, while riding on a ferry, which stirred up and then submerged again in the sea. No matter how best our eye sight follows the surf, it nonetheless comes and goes without a trace. If we look at it from an all-different angle, then all of them may leave footprints in our hearts, none of them should be left out, and none of them can be replaced.

Perhaps we should be proud that we have the ability to differentiate, otherwise, massive memories will be buried. To remember all unique people and things will unavoidably cause regrets and pain, but perhaps that was once the source of happiness!

At school when we discussed about the philosophy of Plato, we had the following criticism towards his world of idea: If every thing and substance in the world all has a prototype in the world of idea to correspond with it, to show the imperfection in the real world, then how can it be explained? Because if in the real world there is a pot of half filthy water, we then may say that in the world of idea, there also happens to have such a pot of half filthy water prototype which is entirely alike. If that is the case, then there is no difference at all.

For those people whom we know and love, because of our sentiment, each of them is a unique prototype in our mind. Do you think Johnny Depp and Leslie Cheung are a little bit alike? That is merely some one-sided impression. Without an unreachable prototype in another world, but only at this time and place or at some time and place there really once existed an individual whom we met and sparked a bright and radiant light.