How do you spell love?

I used to go to martial arts classes. Roughly in year 10 till early year 11 I think. After I stopped the Master went back to Vietnam. He stayed there for a while.

Time skip.

Until recently, I haven't heard much from the group or the Master. One of my friends invited me to a small reunion with the Master. Apparently lots had happened to the Master since he went back to Vietnam. I respect him a lot, and I would never have thought he'd get himself in such big trouble. That's besides the post today.

He would often give us life lectures.

On the evening that we had dinner, he asked us: How do you spell love?

There was silence, no one knew the answer. No one knew what he was going to say.

And then he said: T-I-M-E.

Time is so precious for us human beings. For a brief period, I remember talking about Shakespeare and his messages about time. As humans, we have so little time. Money can't buy time and it definitely can't save us from the inevitable: death.

But what's time gotta do with love?

From my understanding of what he said, time is what you spend with those you love. I can't argue with that at all.

This message reminded me of the first time I bought a present for someone whom I believed to mean a lot to me. I scoured the shops of Liverpool, one after another. It took a long time. In the end, I bought something that I believed was beautiful. It was cheap but I trusted that it was the right gift. I still look back on that day every now and thought about the time and effort put into buying that present.

It contrasted a lot with another time when I was buying a present for another person. It didn't feel right. I felt lazy and didn't want to hand over the gift at all. In the end, I did and I look back on that too. It still doesn't feel right. I didn't spend enough time and effort for it. I had grown lazy and hated myself.

I don't want to be like that any more. I want to change that, and so I will.