When I came back from my visit to Jin (Kin) Men, I had a lot of praises for the humanity, or being human, as displayed by the residents there.  How about my hometown Shima? Can I find the same quality?

For the last two weeks I was getting uneasy with my big left toe.  Hurting, but not swollen. Ointment did not seem to help. Should I wish to see a doctor, I probably will not be able to find the hospital easily as it has been relocated. And I do not know which doctor I should ask to see.  If I wait until I get back to the States, I would have no problem in getting to the hospital, but would have to spend one hour in driving, and at least $15 (equivalent of about 100 RMB) for the appointment. So yesterday (1-31-2017) I decided to visit the local pharmacy to buy some better ointment.

Within eight minutes’ walk from my home, there are three pharmacies.  I went in and asked for ointments. Where does it hurt? the pharmacist wanted to know. Another visitor, who was having tea with the pharmacist, also wanted to know.  I took off my shoe and sock, and showed them my bandaged big toe with a Chinese Band-Aid. Take off the Band-Aid, they demanded, and they examined my hurting toe carefully.  Their conclusion: toe nail bending into the skin. Trim the nail, and it will be all right.  No ointment to buy as it won’t help.  So they helped me without wanting me to buy anything. (And they offered me medical advice without holding a physician’s license, I am sure.)  Such is small town humanity, of being human, being kind to each other.

At the States, my wife went out for a walk in the neighborhood and came across a woman washing a chicken coop with a hose. Did you have chickens too? My wife was interested.  Yes, she did, and she was giving away the coop because she no longer needed this one.  Washing clean a coop before giving it away, that is really humane, or being human.  That’s a quality we see in most of the Americans we have met, for the past 30 years.  When our son came with the trailer to load the free coop, that nice lady also added a small bonus: a bag of chicken food, with worms.  Luckily my wife also brought something to give to the nice lady.

The world is peopled, and bad or mean guys are always to be found, in China or in America, past and present.  But the majority are good folks, decent and honorable. It makes sense to be decent and honorable, because only those who are kind in heart will have peace in mind, and will prevail. Just as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 – 1882) once said: Heart within, God overhead. Hope humanity, decency and honor will be the norm of the day, everywhere, every day.

Digression: Longfellow's poems

I’ve always liked Longfellow. I owned his Chinese translated poems long before I became a student of English.  After I became one, I dreamed of having a collection of his original English poems.  During the early days of the Cultural Revolution when both foreign languages and second-hand bookstores were forced to shut down, I rode past a paper recycling station and saw a bunch of books on the ground.  Browsing through them, I found a hardback copy of Longfellow's poems. The title pages had been torn away, but the rest was intact, and the book color was of the same blue, as in its Chinese translation.  Sensing I knew what I was looking for, they charged me sixty cents for it, quite a big sum for a recycling book.  I paid for it anyway, very pleased with my treasure hunt.

从金门回来，曾经称赞那里的人文。那家乡呢？人文何在？

最近一两个星期，总感觉脚拇指会疼。看不到红肿，却不舒服，贴了几天药膏，没有改善。想去医院，都不知道医院怎么走，挂什么科。如果等回到美国再看医生，路倒是知道，但得开车（来回一个小时），得挂号（挂号费是15美元，相等于100人民币）。因此，昨天上午决定去药店看有没更有效的药膏。从实验小学门口到圆圈，七八分钟的路就有三家药店。我去了左手边靠近圆圈的“益寿药店”。“哪里疼，为什么疼？”老板要问个究竟。我脱下袜子，让他看贴着创可贴的地方。店堂里，原有一个人坐在那里跟老板喝茶。听到这里，他也过来看，而且让我把创可贴拿掉。显然，他是药店老板的同行。查看后，他和老板说这是因为脚趾甲压迫到脚趾肉引起的。泡热水，然后修剪脚趾甲，就没事了。不用买药膏，因为药膏没用的。

喔，这就是小镇的人文。为人，而不为赚钱。 给人方便，不求回报。（后来，林云告诉我 ，我得的是甲沟炎，漳州人称“涨甲边”。）

美国那边，妻子昨天去街区散步，见路边搁着一个大鸡笼，一个女的拿水龙头在冲洗。你们也养鸡吗？妻子跟她聊起天，因为我们也养了三头鸡。她们养了五头，但这个鸡笼不用了，放路旁准备送人。东西送人还洗得干干净净，这正是人文。我们遇到的美国人，绝大多数就是这样的人--这样的人文。等到我们的儿子开拖车去取时，那女主人还添了一袋鸡食，带小虫虫的那种。幸好，妻子也带了一袋食品，可以回敬。

坏人小人到处都有，包括中国包括美国，包括过去和现在。但好人是多数。希望普天下，人文成为共同的追求。好人永远是胜者，因为只有好人才能心安，才能久远。诚如美国诗人朗费罗（1807--1882）所说：“上帝在头上，良知在心中。”，见题首石码名医吴达云惠赠舍弟的墨迹）。

题外话：朗费罗的诗

我一向喜欢朗费罗的诗。中文版的朗费罗诗集（平装本）早就买了，成为英语专业的学生后更希望得到一本英文版原装的。文革期间我在福州。原来的外文商店和旧书店都关门了。有一天上街路过一家废纸店，看到地上扔着一堆书。翻了翻，中间一本硬皮书正是他老先生的英文版的诗集。扉页被撕掉了，但其他还在。而且书皮颜色跟中文版的一样，都是蓝色。他们大概看出我是识货的，开口就要六角钱。我当然买下。

喜欢朗费罗的诗，因为内容积极，正视人生，鼓励上进。我尤其喜欢他的“人生礼赞”，“乡下铁匠”，“夜的赞歌”等等。他有一首诗（孩童时间）写孩子的到来和他们的脚步声，十分美，十分温馨。我读过的诗人中，雪莱、拜伦、济慈等写的是爱情诗，泰戈尔是智者的诗，而长期地激励着我的就是朗费罗的励志者的诗。1969年我们省级机关干部下放，我曾经被放逐到南靖县和溪公社月星大队的一个偏远的山村。去那里没有劳动的任务，但到赶圩的地方要走路三个多小时。煩懣的岁月，漫长的小路，我就是靠背诵英文名诗名篇度过的，正好成就我文革结束后1978年考研究生。