“No One Waiting” Is a Truth About Life
Two lines of a song brought back a promise I made at university, and flights that later lost their purpose. Growing older, I began to understand those songs—and the stories that music holds.
“Now that plane tickets and distance are no longer a problem,
sadly, we lost touch long ago.”
Those two lines of a song moved me.
A scene from university suddenly came back.
A friend was going to Europe on exchange
and said we wouldn’t see each other for a long time.
Without thinking, I reassured them:
No, we will. I’ll come and visit you.
But honestly, as a student,
finding the money for a flight to Europe
was still quite difficult.
Now it would be easy.
It’s just that there no longer seems to be a reason to fly there.
Then, in an instant,
I thought of 李宗盛, the singer-songwriter Li Zongsheng.
What a realization!
So this is how you come to understand him, little by little.
I remember another song that was very popular back then—
《旅行的意义》, a song about the meaning of travel by 陈绮贞, the singer-songwriter Chen Qizhen.
The melody sounded so light.
Underneath, it was actually a sad song.
But back then, travel was always joyful for me.
Either someone
or something I looked forward to
was waiting ahead.
Only after growing older did I learn:
“No one waiting” is a truth about life.
“Crossing the hill” is life itself.
Perhaps Li Zongsheng was trying to tell us:
Growing up is a solitary journey with no one cheering.
The summit isn’t the finish line we imagine.
And the finish line may not come with applause.
Even so,
we have to keep crossing those hills.
Because that’s life.
Zeze...
Listening to music really can set a train of thought in motion.
Everyone says my memory is terrible.
But sometimes I seem able to recall these little fragments.
Pu~
The world can’t do without music.
So many people’s stories, remembered and forgotten,
are tucked away inside it.
That’s why I’ve always admired people like Li Zongsheng,
who turn life into stories through song.
