Posted 10:08 PM by Anonymous

Translation from the original Chinese:

It was past 10 o'clock when the phone rang. Someone from my middle school was calling from Guangzhou. I just got offline and was ready to take a shower and go to bed. He sounded tipsy and excited.

"May I speak to Rose?" I recognized his voice right away.

"Rose" was a name given to me by my homeroom teacher in middle school. She had hoped that I would grow up to be full of thorns like a rose, and that I did.

I smiled and asked, "Where are you? What are you doing this late in the evening?"

"Oh, I am on business in Guangzhou. Just had dinner with a few clients, and drank a few more than I should've..hee hee"

It sounded like he was in a good mood. He shared a desk with my best friend in school, and like so many guys he was obsessed with soccer. On a balmy summer afternoon, I was invited to visit the university he attended. I was enrolled in another university in the same city at that time. There was an annual soccer match going on, and he was a star player for his team. He shot two beautiful goals that afternoon and each time he would turn around and give me a smile. Like a hero returning from war he was surrounded by teammates, and he stood and smiled in my direction .

After graduation and having worked two years at a state enterprise, he readily gave up his stable and well-paid job to pursue something in another city.Now he works for a large cap foreign company. One day he called to tell me that he was promoted to be in charge of the marketing and sales divisions. I was on business at his city, but we didn't meet to celebrate his promotion.

He still had that smile "I really envy that you have the time and mood to travel and so many different things move you. Grass and trees don't excite me that at all."

"Emptiness makes me travel and go to places filled with excitement."

"The last time you left me a message you asked me how I was. Well...it is just work day in and day out. There is nothing that can make me happy or sad. Even if there was, it only lasts a few seconds".

"Are you really that bored? Maybe you need a girlfriend. That would improve things."

"Haha...I don't have time." Well, I thought to myself, this was a well-used excuse by single guys to cover themselves. "Besides, these things can't be rushed." he said.

"Life goes on like this; only memories from the past still bring me excitement."

I stayed silent.

"So do you have any plans for the long weekend?"

"Nothing, but I do want to get out. How about you? Let's go together? We will round up a few more people?"

"Everywhere will be full of people anyway. I haven't gone home for at least six months, it is time that I go see my parents."

I began to feel guilty. I am the kind of person that follows my own feelings, and somebody else has always pampered me. Responsibility was never in my vocabulary even though I deny it. Now I am flooded with guilt for those who have cared for me so deeply.

"Want to go to Tibet?"

"Of couse, that's a great idea."

"We can make it our short term goal," I smiled, usually for no reason.

"I will definitely go to Tibet, but not now. Maybe when I get married. It is such a sacred place..."

"What happens if your wife can't go?"

"That would be impossible, because I won't marry anyone who won't go"

I didn't want to argue. Usually these self-centered guys annoy me. Maybe it was in the way he spoke, or that it had something to do with Tibet that what he said actually sounded good to me.

"I really had a few---don't mind if I am chatty." When did he become so polite---seems phony.

"We haven't talked like this for a long time." Again, I heard his dry cackles.

"Okay, I am going to go," He quickly said without any warning.

"Okay...."

Before the story ends, I want to tell everyone to return to life.

When you have lived in the same environment for a while, life will become boringly routine. The only way to truely put life into perspective is to go away on a trip. Only by knowing how to live in a different way, can you really understand life's true meaning.