Alo and De Defense #32
(PD) Alo and De Lake on Land.
Copyright ©2018 October 09, 2018
Yan: Again, I do appreciate your time, and my being invited to your sitting spot. This is very nice... mine has a little pond, not a sizable lake like yours.
Alo: You are welcome here... De and I, sometimes we visit here often, but then not return for several months... we, are closer now, to perhaps coming here, less.
Yan: I was a young boy when our community changed... I had always thought well of Morning Dove, him and the other elders... they made good choices. Before De and Jun were born, and before you arrived with your family, our lands were not peaceful... outsiders, always coming here, disrupting our lives...
Alo: Yes, Morning Dove had once said something about our community having once been different, but he was careful to not say too much... he did not want to cause unhappy thoughts for De, Jun, and I...
Yan: Good choice. You do realize, of course, that the outsiders will eventually return... they always do... it is their nature to cause harm.
Alo: Yes... the community where I was born, my family left because of the outsiders... it is not easy to find a good place to live... my family searched for years before finding this community.
Yan: I too have searched, partly with a hope of finding a wife, but also for the learning of where we might could move, if someday we were unable to stay here. I spent time in a big city, worked a job, and made enough to travel across the west ocean... spent months there, looking for peaceful places... I was surprised to find so many places that had good people, nothing like the outsiders near us. In the little towns, it was common to meet many good people, but the final answer was that I felt out of place, my ancestry is not close enough to fit-in well with the people, and I did not want to intrude on their lives.
Alo: Yes, perhaps in several ways, if one of us moved to their community, we might be interpreted to be as outsiders... it is best to not intrude... to not cause them discomfort.
Yan: Exactly, but I have found some areas not far from us, that are well-secluded, and well-protected from intruders... the only thing, is that we would have to climb a cliff and hike over a mountain top to reach the property... but, it is very safe from almost all outsiders.
Alo: Sounds interesting... what is the land like?
Yan: Most is mountainside, rather steep, but lots of trees, and down in the valley is a sizable stream and, almost, a full lake. Nearby is sufficient flat land for farming... I went there once... the land is still for sale, pretty cheap of course... very tempting to me, but to live in seclusion, I am not ready for that.
Alo: Yes, true... in seclusion, an individual cannot express compassion for others... cannot love others... cannot care for other people... being a hermit sounds like a stress-free life, but the quality of life would be less than living in a community where the person can experience and express quality emotions... no chidao, no Nature's way... no creativity. A sentence from an ancient book said similarly... 'Kindness not solitary, must exist adjacent'... 'Kindness not solitary, must exist near others'... how can a man be kind, if there is no one to be kind to?
Yan: Correct, and so the question remains... what should we choose when the outsiders come? There can be no avoiding the violence of outsiders'... if we do nothing, the violence will escalate upon innocent people, and the community's spirit will die... if we fight back, the violence will escalate between us and them, and still the community's spirit will die... once a violence begins, there is no stopping it until the violent people are no longer present. Jun and I, we are curious of yours and De's opinion.
Alo: I fully agree with your thoughts... when younger, I once considered the defensive stance... I trained for years... I wanted to defend our people... I was ready... strong, skilled... but... no, now I do not want to live the rest of my life with the memory of violence... no, I would rather find a secluded place, like the one you spoke of... but only if De could be there with me. It is a good and necessary thing that a nation has men who will stand and defend the nation from intruders... militaries will always be a necessity until the day that violent people no longer exist... the militaries enable people like us to live in peace... honorable purpose... but, now, De is my life... De is my sole purpose... my eternity.
Yan: You and De... you have been changing... Jun and I assumed that neither of you would choose physical defense.
Alo: Some of the ancient cultures, their temple people learned hand-to-hand defensive fighting, which was likely necessary for their cultures, but today, now, the outsiders have grown more incapable of stopping their advances... their aggressiveness is impulsive... and they also now have weapons... hand-to-hand cannot defeat weapons... and yes, De and I, we have chosen chidao... and we will not permit a change.
Yan: 'Fist fist to bosom' Jun has said...
Alo: Yes... no changing to fit a place, nor to fit a situation... it is now firmly in our hearts... it is more important to us than life.
Yan: We agree with you...
Alo: My smile... you know, that I know, that you are not saying what you are not saying... but, it is okay if you prefer not to.
Yan: Ha! Yes... I am, of course, nervous... this is all new to me. So many years of searching... I did not expect to find it in the community, and especially did I never expect Jun to find an interest in me... and, so, yes... Jun and I, we have talked about marrying.
Alo: Excellent! Jun had once mentioned that you are a good man with a good heart...
Yan: She makes a lot of jokes sometimes... she said that she thought I was much older, twice her age, but within twenty years I would only be half as much older... and so then it was okay for us to walk together.
Alo: Ha! Yes... she is a good person, only needing someone to reciprocate the caring that she gives to others.
Yan: I can do that... but I must confess, that I sometimes am confused when Jun and De are together... I am not yet familiar enough with the two to be able to distinguish which is which.
Alo: Observe their movements, of arms, hands... De's movements are, slower, a little more mindful... more fluid... her heart accompanies her motions... Jun's movements, less slow... but still good of heart... and their voices... the songs of their voices, speak of their histories of life...
Yan: And Jun does talk a lot!
Alo: Ha! Yes! That also!