spring2006

Love... Is there a more common theme on earth? It's hard to watch a movie that doesn't involve some scene about love.

I recently watched a documentary that described love as a chemical reaction. I have my own theories about love.

Love is thought of in different ways. It can be passion for the opposite sex (or, in some cases, same sex); it can be deep appreciation for parents or ancestors; it can be complete devotion to a child.

There's a famous song by Queen that goes, "I just gotta get out of this prison cell, one day I'm gonna be free, lord--" before repeating many times, "Find me somebody to love, Find me somebody to love, Find me somebody to love..." The singer/writer is apparently very lonely. The question I want to ask, and attempt to answer, is, "Does love need an object (a target)?"

Most examples of love are like deals, or contracts. Take romantic love. Of course we want to be kind, and take care of, and make love with our partners, but we expect the same treatment and love in return. If we feel the other is not returning our love, or not taking care of us, or worse--loving someone else!--then we withdraw our love. While that's reasonable, it seems to indicate that this love, romantic love, is more like a contract. We'll give--as long as we receive.

So, what I want to say is, I believe true love doesn't need an object. This kind of love just is, and spreads out like sunshine. Everyone can receive it. This love loves "your" baby as much as "my" baby; this love equally shines on people who physically appeal to us and people who don't; this love touches annoying people as much as kind people. The bible says, "Love your enemies." That's certainly difficult, or even unnatural, but in my view that's the deepest, truest love: a love that asks nothing and gives everything.

I'm trying to teach Vince as much English as possible even though he's surrounded by Japanese. When he was one year old he surprised his mother and father (me) with how much English he was using: "A,B,'C'", "all done," "apple" (even when his mother says "ringo tabetai hito?" etc. Whenever he sees a dog he refers to it in kiddie Japanese: "wan wan." However, I'm trying to give him the English onomatopoeia (this means words that imitate sounds), "woof woof." I've told students in the past that the English is much closer to the actual sound a dog makes--but they disagreed! What do you think? Make a "woof woof" sound, then a "wan wan" sound and judge which is closer. Rika agreed that the English is closer (but it could just be our perception!). Her theory is that with Japanese the words are intended more as easy words for kids to say rather than exact imitations. Japanese certainly has a lot of these: "man man" meaning "eat," "boo" meaning "vehicle" (or "fart!") etc. There are a few in English, most notably "pee" or "pee-pee" for "shikko suru" (or just "shikko") and "poop" for "unchi." Anyway, we started comparing different animal onomatopoeia:

(Eng - Japanese - animal)
woof - wan - dog
meow - neow - cat
caw - ka - crow
moo - mo - cow
oink - ? - pig (bu-bu)
chirp or tweet- chu or chun? - bird
growl - ? - tiger
cluck - ? - chicken (kokeko)
ribbet - ? - frog (gero gero)
who - ? - owl (ho ho) (thanks to Wildriver-c for teaching me the 4 in parenthesis!)

I can't remember many of the Japanese! Actually, the only one that the English seems closer to the actual is "woof." Well, perhaps the crow is a little closer in English too. The others seems equal. What do you think?

After you type your post, please reread it once or twice CAREFULLY, looking for any errors or areas that could be explained better. After you're sure it's as good as it can be, call me over for a quick check. Then, you're ready to publish it by clicking Publish Post below.

If you're not finished you could publish it and finish it next time. Or, if you'd rather not publish it yet (publishing makes it available on the internet all around the world!) you can click Save as Draft below.

My hometown is on the map--just barely (see bottom). If you look very carefully at a map of New York state, you'll see it there, around the middle, on the New York state thruway, halfway between Albany (the capital) and Syracuse (where I went to university). Herkimer. It's a small town of 6,000 people, surrounded by many other small towns. To the north are the Adirondak mountains, protected by the largest state park in the United States. To the east in my favorite state, Vermont, where I lived for several years, and far to the west is Buffalo, the ciy on Lake Erie.

Herkimer was a pleasant town to grow up in, generally quiet and safe. Although we have no festivals in Herkimer, there was a large week-long fair in the summer in the nearby town of Frankfort. There are rides, games, and lots of junk food at a fair. There were also parades, especially around July 4th, Independence Day, when America became a country. The name of the town in fact comes from a general, a revolutionary war hero. I mention that only because people often wonder where the name "Herkimer" came from. I don't much care for wars, even revolutionary ones, so I'm not so excited by the grand statue of General Herkimer in the park (although I do talk about it during my shadow talks!).

It's cold in winter. Probably just 15 minutes from my hometown is a ski slope--yet I've never, not even once, gone downhill skiing! It just wasn't so popular when I was young, and the ski slope was, apparently, nothing special. I did enjoy ice skating in the winter however, and have very fond memories of skating. The town would flood a field, which would then freeze from January until March. Summers, as I've mentioned before, were hot and humid, but could vary a lot from year to year.

It's nice when I hear Japanese talk fondly about their hometowns. Although I'm satisfied to have grown up in Herkimer, I definitely would never want to live there again. It's not at all international or cultural. For example, I'd never find somebody to play go with!

You might wonder about Herkimer's restaurants. What kind is most common do you think? Wrong! Not hamburger restaurants. There are 4 or 5 pizza restaurants! They are not fancy Italian restuarants like in Japan, but places to get cheap pizza (yeah, I generally like it).

I'll go back to Herkimer in August, but all my friends have moved away. Still, I feel a little nostalgic walking the streets. Besides my parents my sister lives not too far away.

If someone is interested in history they can check this out (but I warn you, it's boring to most people! http://village.herkimer.ny.us/content/History)