Whenever the sun dropped and the blue sky came up, my father and I used to climb the mountain near my house. Walking together, my father and I used to have a lot of conversations through which I learned lessons from his experiences. He always stressed to me, "You should have objectives and capacity like the mountain."
This has largely influenced my life. Without the mountain-climbing that we both enjoyed, we couldn't have had enough time to spend together because my father was very busy. I believe mountaineering is really beneficial. It gave me time to talk with my father and to be in deep contemplation as well as develop my patience. I loved scaling mountains, to get away from the noise and pollution of the city, and breathe the fresh air.
One time we climbed a very high mountain. It was so challenging for me because I was only ten years old. During the first few hours of climbing, I enjoyed the fresh air, the birds' singing, and the beautiful dances of butterflies; but as time passed, I got a pain in both of my legs. At that moment, I wanted to quit climbing. Actually, I hated it at that moment, but my father said to me, "Spring is a season when everything comes to life again. The mountain and fields where we are standing are embroidered with flowers and trees. You can always see a beautiful sky at the top of the mountain, but you can't see it before you reach the top. You can always enjoy the scenes of many waterfalls and countless peaks and valleys at the top of the mountain, but you can't when you are halfway up. Only there at the top, can you embrace all of those things, just like in life."
At that time, I was too young to understand his thoughts, but after that, I got new hope and confidence. Finally, I found myself standing at the top of the mountain. And there, I could see the whole of the sky, which was as clear as crystal.
“你總能在峰頂處看到美麗的天空，但在抵達峰頂前你是看不到的。”
每當太陽快下山時，我和父親總會去爬我家附近的那座山。我們經常在爬山時聊起許多話題。父親的經驗之談，讓我受益匪淺。他總是鼓勵我：“你要有山一般堅定的目標和寬闊的胸懷。”