foreignsun的部落格

“No, no, not again! Oh, my goddness!” It’s not a car crash. It’s a computer class with my mom. Fellow Toaster masters and guests, have you ever taught your parents how to use computer? It’s the most difficult job on the earth! Let me rewind my life to one month ago. It’s a dinner time. I was glued to my iPad as usual. I felt there’s someone standing behind me like a phantom, peeking at my screen. My nerve was wrecking, “Excuse me, Mom. But what’s your problem? My mom looked shy, “Can you teach me how to use internet? ”

I was astonished. My mom is 65 years old. She is a housewife and more than half her life is cooking and laundry. It’s the Information Age, but my mother still stays in the Stone Age. She knows nothing about electronic products, except washing machine, rice cooker, and television. I doubted if this stone age woman could learn any computer skills?    

Fortunately, there was a computer training program for seniors, so I could drop my Mom like a hot potato. As to her first class, I would say it was a disaster. The teacher spent 3 hours ensuring the elderly could turn on the power and know what mouse is. The average age of each student is over 60 years old. But these old students impressed me a lot. They took notes very seriously, as if that’s their last chance to study in their life.     

At the beginning, I was bombarded by my Mom’s endless stupid questions again and again. The most frequent asked question is “Why can’t my computer work today?” After checking for 10 minutes on line, I found she forgot to turn on the screen. Mamma Mia, you have passion, but I don’t have patience, I need to vent my emotion! I became annoyed and irritated until one day I heard a story from her computer teacher. In the computer class, there was an old lady crying out like a helpless child. There’s a story behind her tears. It’s already the last class, but she still couldn’t use an email. However, she’d made a promise with her daughter. Once she could use email, her daughter would send her family photos from United States.  

I understood one thing. What my mother needs is not internet, she needs me. She also hopes to get connected to her children’s life. But I cut off the link from time to time. As a teenager, I disconnected from her by having my bedroom door locked. As an adult, I disconnected from her by telling “I’m very busy, I need to work overtime. Call you later.” I bury my head in iphone to give thousands “likes” to my Facebook virtual friends; but have I ever looked up to give a “like” to my mom? Isn’t it ironic?

One day, if you find mother’s kitchen is not as clean as before, her cooking is too salty, and she always forgets to turn off the gas, it’s a sign that your parents are growing gray and old, and they need your time. Maybe internet is a connection between us and our parents, as the umbilical cord linking the mother to her baby in the womb.  Just like my mom, she is using her ET finger to connect me, though it’s a little bit slow, I can still feel love on the other side.