On March 23, I came to MYSJ and posted my first recording of NCE. That day, an exciting journey began. I was like a child that suddenly found a wonderland. I met a lot of new friends and English learners as eager as I was to improve their pronunciation and writing. We started a new class of 900 sentence reciting and a Chinese-to-English translation class. We started a new 扔砖 culture, in which each one of us was encouraged to give and take criticism or suggestion. Oh, boy, didn’t I have fun!

Seven months have passed. Some friends have left; Some left because they got busy in life; Some left because their interest faded; Some decided to lurk instead of posting. Some have come back with new IDs. In addition, some brand-new friends have come along.  I myself tried to leave the forum three times but the forum allured me back each time. Seven months have changed me from a newbie to a junkie. Today, I looked around and got a little melancholy as I brooded over my friendship with the ones from this forum. But I cheered up when I thought of the poem “Reason, Season, or Lifetime”(attached at the end), which I received eight years ago, at a difficult time of my life.

Friends we met in this forum are more like friends that come to us for a reason and a season. People come and go, with or without “any wrongdoing on our part”.  “We must realize that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done. The prayer we sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.” I am thankful for what my friends have taught me. The time we spent in the forum would not have been spent in vain, if we “put what we learned, [about English, about communication, about relationship,] to use in all other relationships and areas of our life.


Reason, Season, or Lifetime

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
When you figure out which one it is,
you will know what to do for each person.

When someone is in your life for a REASON,
it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty;
to provide you with guidance and support;
to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.
They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,
this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.
 

Some people come into your life for a SEASON,
because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it. It is real. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;
things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person,
and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.
— Unknown