Thus I Came: Voiceless Short Stories

By Tien C. Lee

This book is a revised and expanded version of Thus I Came - short stories that I have been privileged to relate (2018).

A: Recal

• Language: English
• Publisher: GoldTouch Press, LLC
• Release date: Sep 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781952155956

Tien C. Lee

Tien C. Lee is an Emeritus Professor of Geophysics at the University of California, Riverside, California, USA. He was educated as a geologist/geophysicist. He has published peer-reviewed articles in seismology, geoelectricity, hydrogeology, potential field, and terrestrial heat flow. He has also published two books: ‘Applied Mathematics in Hydrogeology (1999)’ and ‘Thus I Came -- short stories that I have been privileged to relate (2017).’ Since his retirement in 2009, he has engaged in writing a book about his rock collections for the general public. It is a show-and-tell book, intended to inspire storytelling, real or imaginary, about commonly available rock specimens for rock hobbyists and enthusiasts as well as aspiring geologists.

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Thus I Came

Voiceless Short Stories

Tien C. Lee

Copyright © 2020 by Tien C. Lee.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2020916594

HARDBACK:    978-1-952155-94-9

Paperback:    978-1-952155-90-1

eBook:              978-1-952155-95-6

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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Preface

Everyone has a past; some of it is memorable but most of it indeed is lost deliberately or unintentionally. The present flashes through, leaving little memorabia from the past. Elusive is the future, harvesting only karmas seeded at the moment.

This book is essentially a revised edition of Thus I Came – Short Stories that I Have Been Privileged to Relate. Each story originates from personal experience. None is an extraordinary, shocking event. The stories are so common that you may have heard or can relate to your own experiences in many untold but modified forms. As the stories evolve, I also add some relevant legendary fictions.

First I share with you my joy of parenting and grand-parenting – the naive wisdom of toddlers and pre-kindergartners. I hope my recollection can relight the fun memories of your own as a child, parent, or grandparent. Also, I wish I could inspire you to write your own stories for your offspring. (Part A).

Next, I describe the struggle endured together by me as a pupil and my mother as a de facto single mother with my three younger siblings, subsequent to my father’s handcuff to political prisons run by the Nationalist Chinese in Taiwan. For survival, my mother had engaged as a migrating, transient farm laborer, forester (weed abatement and seedlings planting), and construction worker. In between she lost a land-lease right through her brother’s chicanery; and she was arrested once and publicly humiliated for chewing sugar cane while collecting cane sheaths (leaves) for kindling to firewood. After a near-crippling fall with the collapse of construction scaffolding when I was in the 4th grade (1952), she involuntarily changed her career and transformed herself to run a small one-person family eatery business. A few years later amid her misdiagnosed chronic illness, her own business withered to end as my father’s post-prison carpentry business expanded. (Part B).

Meanwhile during my primary school years, I had wandered, skipping some school hours daily for nearly one year, between the rice paddies or tobacco plantations with my baby sister strapped on my back in search of my mother for breast feeding. I was reprimanded for picking fruit unethically but awaken to shedding my shame as one son of a political prisoner. I was arrested once for attempting to steal national treasure – fire wood. I pulled purslane weed from other people’s gardens to feed pigs; I gathered frogs, lung fish, and fresh-water clams for supplementary nutrients; and I peddled by roadside or from village to village for pitiful profit to help my mother. I rebelled once against one teacher for unmemorable cause that ended in his repeated slapping on my face; and I earned a day-long shaming chalk-tattoo on my face from another teacher for doing other students’ homework in exchange for school supplies. I remember one of my two younger sisters fell, figuratively under my watch, into a sewage ditch along a dirt road outside my backyard; I pulled her out and cleaned her in an irrigation ditch on the other side of the road; she died some time later for unknown disease. I remember my kid sister was then banished to a new, small frontier hamlet with my Mom’s adoptive parents for the sake of my sister’s survival. She suffered mentally in childhood development because there was no other child around the hamlet for any interaction. (Part B).

I wept once and apologized to my Mom for downgrade in my school performance; and my mother, with tears in her eyes, lodged privately a helpless complaint of unfairness in grading because of my family’s political and economic background. Nevertheless, endowed with an illiterate mother’s instinct, she comforted me with a life-time motto: Pay no attention to class ranking but ask yourself whether you have learned something. Fortunately, that motto together with a benefactor teacher’s inspiration in my 5th and 6th grade somehow propels me, the only one in my class of about 150 pupils in a poor rural school, to college through a bumpy path dotted with financial and legal hiccups, and eventually to becoming a professor in an American university. It was all a dream I had never dared to dream as I grew up until realization. More remarkable, an illiterate, rustic woman had the fortune to see her offspring attained five PhDs and numerous master and bachelor degrees. (Part B).

I abridged and translated my father’s memoir on his five-year journey through prison hell, his post-prison rehabilitation and business struggle, and his inevitable bankruptcy in 1970 when I was a graduate student. For my children and grandchildren and on the basis of my father’s painstaking chronology and verification, I highlighted the good and the bad of my struggling ancestors in the past 200 years. Along the way, I also described briefly a few cases of brutality, lawlessness, and corruption that my ancestors had gone through in the waning days of the last Chinese kingdom and during the 50 years’ rule of Taiwan by Japanese. (Part D).

In addition and outside my academic career paths, I chanced upon a few oddities. To appreciate the good, I highlighted some ugly events (Part E). I valued my one-year stint as an army officer in Taiwan; the experience molded me into a better and more mature person. (Part C).

This second edition corrects spelling errors and misuse of some words in the earlier edition. I apologize for the errors that I missed during my rush in proof reading. Now I have outlived my medical prognoses. I revised it and expanded it to name the sequel as: Thus I Came – Voiceless Short Stories. Most significantly, I add a section on my academic career, chronicled along my various lines of studies. I have published widely in peer review journals and I recount what motivated me to move from one sub-discipline into another. In passing with references to a publication list, I post my achievements and failures. The fruits grew out of my basic and application research in four decades. None is earthshaking breakthrough but some will stand the test of time, I believe (Part F). I also add some pictures, which were not taken when and where my storied events happened because my family could not afford then the luxury of photo-picture taking. (Part G).

In addition to the two versions of this book (Thus I Came), I have published Applied Mathematics in Hydrogeology (1999) and two books on my rock collections: Wandering in Rock Country – One Rock, One Story (2018) and its sequel: Wandering in Rock Country – II. Stories beyond Beauty (2020).

About the cover picture: The no-name tree and birds were painted by my mother during her advanced age. I cherished its primitive presentation, reflecting her state of simple mind and endless wishes for the family tree to grow with eternal cheer by the birds. Birding happens to be the hobby of one of her grandsons. The inset at the lower left corner is a train of conglomerates at the foothill of the Flaming Mountains; it is a natural berm to Wuchi River by my birth village. The scene reminds me of my train ride at 06:19 during my junior high school days (Section B16).

Acknowledgement

I appreciate the following ladies and gentlemen who enabled me to tell my real-life stories today.

My benefactor teacher Mr. Chung-ben Lee in my 5th and 6th grade catapulted me from the ruin in schooling and thrusted me onto a path beyond elementary school. Teacher Ms. Peichen Lam at my junior high school made geometry enjoyable and, in retrospect, she ignited my life-long interest in applied mathematics. I remember my poor villagers and relatives who gave us helping hands when my Mom was drowning financially.

Dr. John Bolm was my fellow graduate student. I met him in 1967 when I came to USA for advanced studies. His confidence in me seeded my success in sailing through the American educational system. His suggestion of my quitting a summer job led inadvertently to my career course change from geology to geophysics. My kids valued Uncle John’s and Auntie Karen’s passion as they grew up. To my family’s sorrow, Karen went to Heaven years ago and John followed in early 2018.

Dr. Thomas L. Henyey – All good things materialized after Professor Henyey took risk of me as a convert in geophysics. My mentor turned me into a hand-on laboratory and field geophysicist. He also let me roam around to develop my mathematical skill in finite element analysis and analytical solutions. Some bear fruits eventually and a few products can stand the test of time. Dr. Ta-liang Teng – Professor Teng taught me seismology and commenced my taste in the academia of publish or perish.

Dr. Lewis Cohen – During the incubation stage in my academic career, my colleague Lew helped me to hatch editorially several manuscripts. Dr. Shawn Biehler – I cherish my long-term colleague who witnessed my sworn-in as a citizen of the United States of America, and more significantly, facilitated me to wear the hat of an applied geophysicist. Dr. Douglas M. Morton – It is tough to bud out of a perceived niche arena of science specialty. I am fortunate to associate with my colleague and friend Dr. Morton who paved a branch path that led to many prosperous years in my pursuit of hydrogeology. He also laid the foundation for my son CT to excel in bird watching and field observation of rocks.

Dr. Brian N. Damiata – My former student and colleague assisted me to run a smoothly operated program in applied geophysics/hydrogeology during my last decade of active academic career. I have benefitted from our candid discussions in science and operation. Dr. Tomas Perina – As a former student, Tom kept me from losing touch with reality in hydrogeology.

And lastly, nothing good would have happened without the lasting support of my wife, Zora, be it at time of Z or A as we pedaled from Z toward A in life. To conclude, I wish someone could say, someday and somehow, that he or she remembers a little bit about me as I proceed from Thus I Came to thus I shall go.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part A: Pre-Kindergarteners’ Wit

Part B: My Mother And I

Part C: Military Venture

Part D: My Ancestry

Part E: What Not

Part F: Could Be Better

Part G: List Of Pictures

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A

Part A: Pre-Kindergarteners’ Wit

A1: Logic

A2: Diplomatic Speak

A3: Half-Full Bottle

A4: Good Bite

A5: Three Discoveries

A6: Mandarin Duck

A7: A Sparrow

A8: Gopher Snake

A9: Endless Whys

A10: A High Achiever

A11: A Promise

A12: C U G

A13: The Best Refusal Ever

A14: Great Grandma’s Funeral

Part A

Pre-Kindergarteners’ Wit

Few of us remember our own toddlerhood. As parents it is fun to revisit the kids’ innate activities because that could reflect what you might have done decades ago. Actually it is more fun for the grandparents because they have more time at retirement or semi-retirement to enjoy playing with their grandkids. Most parents are busy at work to support their family and available time for children is often challenged.

Here are some moments of joys to share with our grandkids in the future for their appreciation of what had happened but were not necessarily memorable. And, I am sure you have a lot of joyful memory about your own kids or grandkids. Please share your joy with them for fun by writing short stories.

A1: Logic

In October 2010, my wife and I flew with our son CY, daughter-in-law, and their first son JJ to Hawaii for vacation. While we were sitting around a dining table in restaurant, a waiter gave one spoon to each of us. JJ, who just turned one year old, had the habit of liking to hold something in both hands. Unable to speak yet, he raised his open left-hand toward the waiter and made a gesture for one additional spoon.

His mother smiled, raised one spoon up, and firmly proclaimed, One spoon only! At her prompt, the rest of us also held up the spoons and reiterated, One only, one only! JJ was stunt by the refusal. He lowered his hand. The waiter moved on.

One moment later, JJ gave his spoon to his Grandpa (me) who sat next to him on his right. He then raised both hands and twisted left-to-right, right-to-left to signal he had nothing in his hands. He thereupon extended one hand toward his Grandma who sat across the table from him. Grandma gave him her spoon.

I was about to forward one of my two spoons to my wife. But, JJ acted fast. He turned around and hand-gestured to ask for his spoon back. At this moment, his father burst into a big laugh and said, What a trick, JJ, you have played!

We all laughed spontaneously. JJ showed indifference to our laugh. He had his two spoons.

Reflection:

Was it JJ’s play of instinct to end up with two spoons? An affirmative answer would be the end of the story: JJ has initiated a game of spoon exchange.

Or was it indeed a trick schemed by a thirteen-month old toddler? We all learn that language skill precedes logical mind. Can you explain how a toddler, who is barely capable of uttering something like daddy and mommy, plays such a trick to get hold of two spoons?

Certainly a toddler before he can speak is capable of having something done on his own or holding your hand for help to have something done. This is innate capability without nurturing.

A2: Diplomatic Speak

One day in the fall of 2012, my son dropped by to have his son JJ stayed with us for a weekend. After bathing JJ, Grandma put pajama on him.

Grandpa commented casually, JJ, your pajama is beautiful. Who bought it for you?

JJ replied promptly, Mommy! Grandpa thought that concluded the question and answer.

One moment later, JJ corrected his own answer, No! Daddy bought it.

Oh! ya! Grandpa responded without giving further thought, either.

JJ paused for a longer moment, then, gave the final answer, Mommy bought the shirt and Daddy bought the pants.

Reflection:

We all know pajama is sold generally in an inseparable set of shirt and pants. But the two-and-half year old toddler did not know it as a fact. I am sure he did not know who bought the pajama either. He could have said both parents bought it but his father and mother do not always shop together. Instead, he offered an unexpected solution. His parents ought to be pleased with the illogical but diplomatic compromise.

A3: Half-Full Bottle

My wife used to tell our grandson JJ that Grandpa was old because he had white hair and that JJ was young and had black hair. She also reminded him sometimes that Grandma was getting too old to hold him up to see things. Meanwhile she complemented JJ that he was growing bigger and stronger every day. The three-year and three-month old kid was probably confused by the perception that Grandpa and Grandma are old but Grandma’s hair was still black, not even a trace of white. Both of us were 69 years old then.

One day in January of 2013, we took JJ to visit San Diego Zoo Safari. After I had lifted him up at a few venues for him to better see the zoo animals, JJ shouted out loud on my shoulder: Grandpa, you have some black hair. You are not old! Like JJ, you have black hair.

That evoked some laughter among the spectators who glanced over my salt-and-pepper hair.

Reflection:

A partially filled water bottle can be viewed as half-full or half-empty, depending on one’s perspective. If I may say something with grace, JJ took a positive stand to comfort his Grandpa.

A4: Good Bite

When my kids were at pre-kindergarten time, we lived in a house on a hillside orange grove. Frequently my wife and I hosted kids’ get-together parties. A few days after one of those occasions, I chanced upon the mother of a kid at an office parking lot around 7:30 a.m. She and I exchanged greetings as usual.

Then, she spoke, Your son CT bit my son David during the last party.

I was caught off-guarded by the accusation. I looked at her and apologized profusely, I am very sorry. I was not aware that CT had bitten David. Meanwhile I pondered: How could I settle with my colleague over my son’s biting of her beloved David?

Calmly and slowly, she said, Please do not apologize. I am not complaining against CT. On the contrary, I would like to convey my appreciation of CT’s biting of David.

What? I did not believe what I just heard. How could this episode be!

She continued, Since CT bit him, David has stopped biting his elder sister. We could not stop David from biting his sister from time to time. CT has done it for us because David now realizes that everyone has sharp teeth. Please tell CT my sincere thanks.

What a surprise, happy ending!

Reflection:

I did not tell my son CT the biting episode. Both CT and David have no memory of the biting, I presume. Sometimes a bad event may turn out to be better than one has anticipated. Now, both of them are well known professors and scientists in different fields of specialty at different universities.

A5: Three Discoveries

In the summer of 1976 I led a group of student assistants to assess geothermal resources in the Salton Sea area of the Imperial Valley in southern California by measuring heat flow through the lake floor. I brought my 20-month old son CT with me to the field because I wanted to lessen my wife’s burden of taking care of one toddler and one two-month old baby, CY. My students and I would launch a boat into the lake to make measurements and triangulate its position with two land-based theodolites by the lakeside. I monitored one theodolite and directed the operation through radio communication.

Upon arrival at the southeastern end of the Salton Sea (an inland saline lake, not sea) and immediately after getting out of the car, CT spotted a lot of fish on land. He rushed toward the shore line and shouted excitedly, Fish! Fish! ….

Being concerned he might put the fish carcass into his mouth, I pulled him back and moved the equipment to high ground away from the fish-strewn lake shore. On the way, he kept murmuring, fish, no water. I could not explain in a way that was understandable to a toddler why the fish were dead and washed ashore. I also was at loss of conveying the concept of death -- dead and decaying fish. So I ignored him. His murmuring reflected his discovery and puzzle of fish without water, I presumed.

I set up an open tent covering us and my equipment. My monitoring site was near the base of an obsidian hill, paved naturally with debris of volcanic rocks. I let CT play on the sandy ground under the tent. Around noon time he was still playful with the sand. I asked him, CT, what have you found?

He answered, Big rocks become small sands. I was amazed at his observation. He had smashed some small rocks into finer pieces. So, I asked him again to make sure what I just heard. He repeated his discovery and conclusion.

Later in the afternoon, we decamped. While packing up, I told CT that we were going home but in fact we were heading to a motel for the night. I did not tell him the truth because I was unable to convey the concept of motel to him.

Upon checking into a motel room, CT said, This is not home. No Mommy!

I was very well taken by his remark of no mommy. I felt very uncomfortable about his third finding of the day but said nothing in response. I set CT on the bed and went to wash my hands before I could clean him up. When I got out of the wash room, he had fallen sound asleep. I realized that I had over-stressed a toddler despite the fact that he had taken two naps in the tent and car. Later, my students brought the dinner to my motel room.

The next morning we lost a coring device overboard while the boat was on station making measurements of geothermal gradient. We quit and went home. The corer was on loan from Occidental College and hence we should return it or pay back. Two days later, my students and I came back (without CT) to the Salton Sea and navigated to where we lost the corer, as guided visually with two onshore theodolites and radio communication. One student recovered the corer during his second scuba diving into the lake bottom (water depth about 30 feet). We used this incidental lost-and-found record as one proof of quality assurance for station positioning in the lake.

Reflection:

Do not overlook those trivial observations and linkages: fish free of water, small sand originated from big rock, and mom symbolizing home. They demonstrate human’s innate ability of doing independent thinking and discovery. It is a challenge to all parents how to cultivate their youngsters from such trivial discoveries to become scientists or any professionals for that matter.

In the past few years, I enjoyed many silly conversations with my toddler grand kids. Nothing serious but lot of fun! I am sure you have something to share too.

A6: Mandarin Duck

We frequently took our grandson JJ to the Arboretum of the Los Angeles County, well known for its collections of plants and peacocks. As part of the routine, we visited its Baldwin Lake to watch fish, turtles, and water fowls. Common in the pond are mallards, American coots, wood ducks, and Canada geese (resident). Occasionally we enjoyed seeing black double-crested cormorants dive into water to scoop up fish; we watched black-crowned night herons, ignoring our presence, wait patiently at water edge for their target fish. Once we were lucky to have observed and photographed one great egret standing next to one dozen turtles resting on a fallen tree trunk, which stuck out of water at other side of the lake.

One day as we approached our favorite observation point – on a fallen red wood tree trunk, JJ started to jump up and down (his typical behavior when he was excited) to greet a flock of water fowls coming toward us. He shouted out loud, One chicken is coming.

The Grandma spotted it right after. It was a rarely sighted mandarin duck in the Baldwin Lake. She corrected JJ, It is a mandarin duck, not a chicken. But JJ insisted it was a chicken. That was his first sight of a mandarin duck. The golden feather (gorget) around the throat looks like that of a rooster. Thereupon, JJ and Grandma engaged in a repeated naming exchange between chicken and mandarin duck.

Finally the wise Grandma cracked the debate. Chicken does not swim in the water; duck does. JJ was silent for a while; then he asked, Why can’t chicken swim in the water?

The wiser Grandpa jumped into the conversation, Because the chicken does not have web between toes.

What is the web, Grandpa? asked the three year old JJ.

Immediately Grandma pulled out an iPad from her backpack. To his satisfaction, JJ saw the pictures of the webbed and web-free toes on the computer screen.

Then, he challenged his grandparents, Why doesn’t chicken grow web to swim? We pondered about the answer but ended up saying nothing meaningful.

And JJ retorted further, I do not have web. Can I swim? That was a new challenge. Apparently he was concerned with his on-going weekly swimming lesson. The answer to this question posits a double edged sword of words. An affirmative answer would negate the idea of web as a swimming necessity for chicken; and a negative answer, on the other hand, would invite another question why a swimming lesson was in order for him. I did not believe JJ was sophisticated enough to raise a question with such predicament in answer.

The Grandparents cast a silly look at each other but assured him, Yes, you can learn how to swim.

In our heart, we do not have the right answer and we have not done a good job of explaining his ‘whys’. Would you? Can you!

Reflection:

Sometime ago I read on the internet a Japanese doctor’s crappy comment, as cited by others. And, let me paraphrase it, If you think swimming can help streamline your figure, do you like your body to shape like a whale?

We are taught at schools that whales were once land mammals a few million years ago. At what point in time and place, did those land animals venture into the sea to evolve eventually into marine animals? Did they start from a deranged couple with herd followers? Was it a species-wide migration into the sea or just some individuals’ venture? Now there are many species of whales (counting dolphins and porpoises too). Are they all descendants of one common ancestor couple? As the offspring grow in population, they spread and some establish their new lines of succession (species) all in the sea. Or, can some of the whale species originate from different species of land animals and streamline themselves in the sea? If so, what were the environmental cues that inspire or compel those various animals to jump into the sea, to survive and stay there forever, and to evolve eventually into what they are now? How did they lose limbs and grow fins? Was there an intelligent designer? How many animals had failed in such endless evolutionary journeys? Has anyone ever documented an animal which is now in transition from land to marine life, or vice versus?

Apple’s iPhone revolutionized the cell phone from ‘dumb’ to ‘smart’. Several brands of smart phones have since sprouted in the market. Are those brands (species) the evolutional offspring of iPhone? Or, following a fashion trend, do they represent some parallel evolutions?

Having gone through those analog thought processes, I still cannot answer JJ’s question: Why doesn’t chicken grow web to swim? Perhaps some chickens had evolved into mandarin ducks by adapting to aquatic life and growing web as a consequence but others stay as land chicken. The ‘chicken’ dabbles into water part time and evolves from web-free chicken to webbed mandarin duck. Could it happen? Only time will tell. Now, whatever you may think, please do not quote my speculation for an authoritative assertion. I only post questions without answers.

Postscript: A few years later, JJ has become a good swimmer without growing or equipping with web.

A7: A Sparrow

Together with our grandson JJ, we visited Desconso Garden of the Los Angeles County frequently. The Desconso is located north of the Verdugo Mountain, with its northern foothill bounded by an affluent residential area. Besides various plants and flowers, it also encloses a Japanese Zen style garden, an art gallery, and ponds. It runs a children’s delight – once-a-week train ride. Its seasonal flower blossom has attracted many visitors. We often wandered in the woods to find various kinds of beautiful but not consumable mushrooms.

Usually JJ followed his Grandma’s lead in the trip and I strolled behind on the trail. As he got a little older, he had his own favorite scene and new venture. One day, JJ turned from a paved track into a side, infrequently-travelled trail; and I followed after him. Within a few steps on the side trail, a bird flew off all of a sudden. Startled, he froze on the spot.

He watched the fly-away bird. Then, he turned around and said, Grandpa, it is a sparrow. I replied, It is not a sparrow. Uncharacteristically, JJ said nothing in response. The bird was gone.

We retreated back to the main track to catch up with his Grandma. For the next few days, I noticed that JJ did not call out any bird’s name.

Reflection:

I shouldn’t have hastened to deny his observation. A flying bird is hard for an adult to identify, let alone a startled, three-year old boy. I thought about apologizing to him but I did not because he might not remember what had happened. He was certainly frustrated, at least, doubting his identification skill.

This episode raises the question whether or not to correct a kid’s mistake. If yes, how do we proceed properly such that we do not suffocate a kid’s imagination or storytelling wit? Or worse, destroy a kid’s curiosity and confidence. Do you correct a kid’s mistake every time it happens? Is the mistake trivial? Or sit back and count on the kid to find out his/her own mistake later.

As of December 2018, I read in the Wall Street Journal that quite a few school districts in some states ask the teachers to stop assigning homework to students from primary to high schools, especially for weekends. Don’t score the homework if students do turn in homework; and if the homework is scored, do not count it for final grade. I recall once our kids asked why they had to go to Sunday schools or join extracurricular camps to learn something extra while we adults have time off on Saturdays and Sundays. They need time off to pursue their interest too. It seems no homework is good for all stake holders. What a bargain for some ‘overloaded and underpaid’ teachers!

Raise the stake one notch higher. If you see a kindergartener or pre-kindergartener is bullying other kids in the public playground, as we have witnessed sometimes, do you intervene if the tormenter’s guardian is not in sight or unwilling to stop the bullying? If you do, you risk being accused of harassment. Indifference to misbehavior at kindergarten level is probably seeding a bully in the primary and secondary schools. Where is the balance? Somehow bullying stops in colleges that I have been associated with. Why? Child bringing is a challenging art, and you can hardly predict the outcome. Most kids will succeed and unfortunately a few may fail.

A8: Gopher Snake

One day in the spring, when I was digging holes to track gophers in the yard, my grandson JJ in the living room asked his grandma, What is Grandpa doing?

Grandma replied, Grandpa is trying to catch gophers for several days. He is yet to get one.

JJ was excited about my prospect of catching gophers. Accompanied by his Grandma, JJ came to see my digging. JJ said to his Grandma, That is too much work. Ask grandpa to get one gopher snake. The snake can go into tunnels to catch gophers. Grandpa can’t. He is too big.

Reflection:

It is a good idea for a three-and-half year old. I have never thought about using gopher snakes to control gopher infection in the yard. To experiment and practice, where can I purchase gopher snakes? Not pet store. Perhaps I can buy one or two through internet quest. Is it legal, ethical, and practical to release snakes in the yard? If the snakes do a good job of catching gophers, what shall I do with the snakes afterwards even if I can retrieve them? Sell the snakes at discount as used creatures or sell them at premium for their time-tested performance.

Postscript: After seven years of trial, I have finally kept gophers from coming into my yard by laying a peripheral underground concrete barrier. For unknown reason, crows and cats stop coming to my yard too. Hummingbirds, mourning doves, vireos, mockingbirds, and sparrows continue to visit us frequently. And of courses still with us in the garden are lizards, grasshoppers, mantises, butterflies, lady bugs, bees, and what nots. We enjoy our home-grown vegetables and fruits, with a little excess for giving away.

A9: Endless Whys

Once we were out with our grandson JJ in the Los Angeles Arboretum. It was approaching the garden’s closing time, five o’clock; and it was time to go. JJ asked, Why? I don’t want to go home. I want to play.

I said, It is getting dark. We have to go.

JJ questioned, Why is it getting dark?

I replied, The sun is setting. There will be no sun light for us to see things.

Why?

It is the nature.

Why does the nature do that? I was sure JJ did not understand ‘nature’. But what could I say to a three-year old boy who had yet to get some sense out of living in California or standing on a spherical Earth?

I wish I could rhyme, Sun, sun, stop setting! Little JJ wants to stay and play. …

Can I talk to him on a self-rotating Earth for the cause of day and night? If JJ were much older, one could lecture him on planetary motion by invoking Newton’s law. But what is the limit of the ‘why’ sequence?

Reflection:

The beautiful Newton’s law of universal gravitation stipulates that the attractive force between two mass particles is inversely proportional to the square of distance between them. That beauty is cast in the decimal system. If an alien uses a binary or octonary system, how is that square (2) going to change? Will the law still look mathematically concise and beautiful? How lucky we are on the decimal system. But in the age of machine computation we take advantage of the binary system.

Or for that matter, why does it have to be exactly a two? Experimentally, can 1.999,999 or 2.000,001 be good enough? If it were not exactly two, all derivations or implications in classical mechanics would break down.

Now, if you input zero for the distance in the divisor with whatever computer you are using to compute the attractive force, what is the result? Will your software fail or will Newton’s Law explode? Why?

There is a limit to