對於第二次世界大戰後北美火熱的經濟我仍記憶猶新，我有足夠的年紀經歷那一段時光。當時的伐木產業非常興盛，不想工作成為沒有工作的唯一原因。我大部份的同學都在高中一年級時選擇放棄學業，原因相當簡單，「如果你現在就有能力工作且獲得大把銀兩，何必將時間浪費在學校中？」，當時伐木產業的薪資高得嚇人，直逼房地產業，正常的情況下工作兩年就有能力買房，那段日子對於勞工來說簡直是天堂，就如同他們熬過經濟大恐慌的回饋。
我曾經試圖加入他們，在我不夠遠慮的眼裡伐木工似乎擁有一切：他有著的販賣勞力獲得的古銅色肌膚與強健身體，由於高薪他可以輕易獲得的轎車，在我生活的那個村莊，有自尊的年輕女性是不會輕易接觸沒有車的年輕小夥子的。這些原因對於涉世未深的年輕人來說相當有吸引力。在我為著我自己認為的經濟自由想加入伐木行業的苦苦哀求之下，家母卻將我所提及的一切視為耳邊風，在她對於教育的觀點來說高中畢業是最基本的，我只能選擇繼續待在學校完成學業並取得文憑。被拒絕從事自己理想的工作並被強迫留在學校的我感覺自己像是迷途羔羊。畢業後我於一家當地的公司負責電視及音響銷售工作，我認為自己很了解消費者的需求，我不知道的是，一件可能改變我人生的災難即將降臨在我身上。
那件故事使這樣的：一位來自鄰近鄉鎮的汽車銷售員有一天上門和我推銷購車，我記得當時一部車要價7000美金，對比於月薪2000美元的伐木工作，我當時的月收入只有700美金，心中的惡魔不免催促著我趕緊換個工作，然而我卻熱愛著原本的。最終，一位和我同公司的同仁的邀約促使我完成決定，他邀請我與他一同前往他的故鄉匈牙利度過六個禮拜的假期，當時的我心中總有一個疑問，為什麼會有人將自的國家命名為「飢餓」，後來才發現原來是「飢餓」與「匈牙利」的英文單字只相差一個字母導致我鬧出個大笑話，獲得這個邀約後，我帶著那可以是汽車頭期款的2000美金與他共赴匈牙利，那個決定也改變了我的一生。偷偷洩漏一個小秘密，由於我當時沒車沒房，我最後並沒有和當時的女朋友步入婚姻，至於這是好是壞，就留給想像空間給你們。這原本六個禮拜的假期讓我花了兩年多的時間才重新回到加拿大，當我帶著美好經驗賦歸時發覺一切都變了，那個小鎮不再迷人，像是一個可以被輕易遺忘的旅遊景點，經濟狀況已經到了沒有辦法支付那些勞工高昂薪水的地步，這叫這些除了勞力之外沒有其它生存技能的人何去何從，更糟糕的是過度捕撈及砍伐使原本富饒的自然資源岌岌可危，很多勞工面臨走投無路的困境，那曾經因為勞工階層而興盛的小鎮也逐漸殞落，我也與我從小生長的根源從此失去聯繫，我的生命在這段期間有著各種轉折，最終將我引領到台灣，我沒有任何後悔並由衷的感激我母親的嚴厲教導方針，希臘作家普魯塔克說道：The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.，以教育來說，這句話的意思就像是告訴各位老師，教導學生的重點不是在塞了多少的知識給他，而是在如何啟發他追尋更多知識的心。
I am old enough to remember a time after World War II when the economy in North America literally “sizzled.” The commercial lumber industry was in the ascendant. If you didn’t have a job, you did not want one. Most of my classmates, in fact, quit school in Grade Ten: the salient question being, “Why waste time in school when you could be working and making money?” The salaries were so extraordinary, next to the price of real estate, that it was possible to buy a house with two years wages. Times were good for the industrial working man. This was arguably his payback for the years of Great Depression (1929-1939) era poverty and the toil and death associated with a protracted, and yet venial war.
I tried to join that phalanx of young men. From my distant and ignorant standpoint, the “logger” seemed to have it all: he had a toned and magnificent body due to the strenuous physical activity of the work, he had a car which his wages amply provided and, much more poignantly from the perspective of a star struck young man, he had a girlfriend. In our village, no self-respecting young woman would touch the hand of an impoverished (carless) young male. My exaltations for economic freedom fell on deaf ears, my mother being convinced in the value of an education: meaning Grade Twelve. I stayed the course and got my high school diploma, yet I felt lost. Having rejected a real man’s work, I felt “a bit at sea.” I therefore took a job selling televisions and stereos with a local company for my gap year. (1) I had the natural salesman’s feel for what the client needed.
Then the fateful day arrived. A car salesman from the closest large town, some three and a half hours away, began to chat with me about buying a car. I remember that the car cost $7,000 and I was making $700 a month: a fraction of the $2,000 paid in the forest industry. What a dilemma: what to do? The easy alternative was to get the more financially lucrative position, but I loved my selling job. And it was clean. As with all great strokes of luck, the decision was made for me. One of my friends in the shop was going back to his native Hungary for a six week sojourn. I remember thinking, “Why would you name a country Hungry?” Nevertheless, I took my $2,000 car deposit and went with him: it changed my life. I never did marry that girl who was almost my girlfriend (the car being the requisite to cement the relationship). When I returned to Canada some two years later, the world had changed: it had gotten infinite and exciting. My isolated hamlet no longer had the allure of a life well lived. It seemed small and forgotten: which it was. The only choice was a lengthy period of travel and study. The great irony of the unskilled or semi-skilled worker was that the economy, shortly, could no longer afford to pay his wages. Even more tragically, over-fishing and over-logging depleted these magnificent, natural resources. Most of those hard working souls could not stay in the industries that they truly loved, depopulating countless working-class villages throughout North America. I lost touch with my roots, my life taking a trajectory in a total different direction: finally leading me to Taiwan. I have no regrets and am truly thankful for the harsh but guiding hand of my mother. Plutarch, (46-127 AD) the great Greek historian, biographer and essayist leaves us with a thought: The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.
A small joke: A little boy asked his mother, “At a wedding, why does the bride wear white?” “That’s simply,” replied his mother. “That is because it is the girl’s happiest day of her life.” “Then why does the man wear black?” the child inquired.
This week, please ponder the value of a real education in your life.
Every day look for something magical and beautiful.
Quote: The difficulty with an educated but foolish person is that they believe an education has given them empowerment when it has only given them naivety and stupidity.
Footnotes:
1) Traditionally in Western culture, a gap year is the time used after high school and before university for travel and experience: a working holiday in France, for example.