The gift half understood

This was an amazing day. I clearly remember when I first (and last) used my French. It was back in Prague, some three years ago in the underground where a group of tourists was asking for directions. I said simply "C'est à gauche." and it was enough. Such moments, little though they may be, have particular importance for all language learners as they provide a sense of meaning to the learning grind.

After a mere week of learning Chinese it happened to me again. I went out for dinner to my favourite 'economy rice' hawker stall and there were, among other people, a man and his wife. When the man saw me, he somewhat excitedly started talking to his wife and I noticed one word – 'gāu', or 'tall' in English...

Life to me is definitely "the gift half understood" (T.S. Eliot) as it "can only be understood backwards" (Soren Kierkegaard) and...

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone, therefore we must be saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint; therefore we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.

-- Reinhold Niebuhr, via Daily Dig

Yes, I feel I'm a tiny part of something beautiful. It only sometimes doesn't make sense...