Grasshopper

There is no such thing as universal truth in the world. There never was.

Anne Lamott wrote that it took years for her to discover that the first step in finding out the truth is to begin unlearning almost everything adults had taught her. I tried thinking of words that I told my little sister when she was young. And I did discover Anne Lamott is right.

One green spring afternoon, I'd been enjoying myself in the garden while my little sister waited for the surprise his brother brought home. I didn't disappoint her. I caught quite a number of grasshoppers. "Grasshoppers?" she asked. She opened her eyes, and then her mouth joyfully. And for the first time in her life, she got fascinated by the little creatures that hopped around inside a plastic bag. She could not even remember if she had taken time to breathe while she enthused over the grasshoppers. It took her a minute to catch her breath after being overwhelmed with joy. She then phoned up our dad and told him the great news. "Yeah," she said, in her childish but enthusiastic voice. "They look funny, jumping here and there! Can you see them?" With that, she held the grasshoppers close to the telephone mouthpiece.

We all laughed – what a witty thing to show our dad over the phone!

Seriously, we were wrong. That was then. This is now. Should I foresee the subsequent development of 3G cell phone decades later, I dared not laugh at my sister.