January 5, 2013 record, unedited

Got on the train back to Taipei. I was surprised that a seat had been kept for me, even though I didn't have a reserved ticket. I was also happy to chat with the auntie next to me for a few hours. She was probably around 50 years old, a Japanese teacher, and also a painter. She was really hip, carrying her iPod and iPad everywhere. She told me all about her family during the trip.

She has two daughters, one studying abroad in Japan, and the other is a designer in New York. My impression of the aunt is that she's very talkative. She told me she's been going to mainland China for over 20 years and goes every year. Then she talked to me about many places to visit in Taiwan. To be honest, a young person rarely chats with older people because you feel like you’re not talking about the same era. But you really can't see any trace of age with this aunt. She showed me photos she took in Germany, and said that even though she's old now, she can still do a lot of things.

Then she started talking about the thing that impressed me most on the train, that a person's value lies in their ideas. She told me a story about how when she was in college, she took Japanese as an elective. Back then, students basically just copied what was in the textbooks. One day, the professor gave them a question, and she thought her answer was really good, almost a perfect answer. But she only got a 90. She went to the professor and asked why she didn't get a higher score. The professor said, "I wanted to see your ideas, not just an explanation of the answer from the textbook. Your answer was perfect and beautifully worded, but since I didn't see your own thinking, there wasn't any of *your* value in it."

After that conversation, the auntie felt the professor had opened a backdoor for her, a starting point for changing her life. From that moment on, she believed that a person needs their own thoughts and ideas, and that the most valuable thing a person has is their thinking. If you don't have your own ideas, how are you different from a textbook? If you just do what the textbook tells you to do, that's just being a bookworm. You'll be stuck, unable to move forward or create opportunities.

Then she talked to me about her daughter's education. She said her daughter really wanted to study design in New York after graduating from university. She encouraged her, saying that as long as her daughter liked it, she would support it, and now looking back, she doesn't regret it at all. Because after her daughter went to New York, she completely changed. She went from being insecure before to being confident now. And she was so happy to see her daughter’s transformation.

She even showed me her daughter’s design work, and I could see the pride and affirmation in her eyes. I chatted with the auntie for a few hours, and before I knew it, it was my stop. I thought this would just be another ordinary trip, but her appearance made it so interesting. I’m thankful she shared these stories and valuable insights. As young people, sometimes we still need to listen to the older generation, because they’ve been through it all. It can help us improve and avoid many detours on our path forward.

And to wrap up this post, let me say that the auntie's surname is Hong, she currently lives in Taipei, and we've agreed that next time she comes to the mainland, I'll be her tour guide.