呼應前一篇文章裡面所談到的「機上洗手間」 Reflection Towards Lavatories Inside Aircrafts Mentioned In The Previous Article

The video is bilingual, namely, Mandarin Chinese and English, whereas over here, in the written part, Mandarin is used first while English follows suit. Kindly scroll down to read the English mentioned in the video. Screenshots chosen here would be comments from colleagues or friends after they listen to my video about LOVE. 影片中英對照，此篇文字則先以中文呈現。此處所摘錄些許反饋為各界先進與同儕們，針對上一篇談論「愛到底是個什麼東西」之文章，所作的回應。

前一篇作品裡面的洗手間，淡淡提及

本篇作品稍事反省了全球各地的洗手間--從我個人自己的角度

許多人對不乾淨的洗手間的感覺是厭惡

有些人思考如何能夠讓這些洗手間更加乾淨

也有些人對這種思考產生了行動

克服障礙而使用這樣的洗手間，進而衍生改進措施

而有形成轉變的可能

在我身為一位為台灣的部會接待外賓的大專學生時

曾有來訪外賓詢問：「為什麼你們的洗手間都沒有衛生紙可以取用?」

來訪者來自於先進國度，洗手間裡面的衛生紙是「必備」之物

曾幾何時，台灣的洗手間即便是國道高速公路上的都可以愈來愈是精緻

最近的一次在某個休息區看到洗手間不但建造以免治馬桶

並且每個洗手間排排相連，以圓型環繞狀排列

中間留有寬敞的空地種花植草，陽光灑落，甚是賞心悅目

於是，洗手間變成一件舒心之事

但願，在落後地區的人們也能夠逐漸享受這樣的尊崇禮遇

並且，不再有任何人因為骯髒不潔的衛生條件而生病或者喪命

一件我們常常視為理所當然的如廁之事

卻在背後有著許許多多人的流血流汗

充滿感恩的我

怎麼能夠不去自動清理機上的洗手間

又怎麼可能不在褪下空服人員的制服，成為一名一般乘客之後

協助維持自己正好飛行到的航班中，洗手間的乾淨狀態呢

事實上，我喜愛在不同艙等的洗手間「巡禮」

這是一位身為乘客的特殊體驗

在不同的洗手間，觀察裡面的香氣、擺設、物品之有所不同

而提醒自己這個世界也許有許多人與人之間的地位、財富之分

但是最基本的事情並無二致

在這並無二致的微小狀態中

人性的光輝和黑暗

也就此展現

表露無遺

 “Why does Hope talk LAVATORY in her most recent work—LOVE到底是什麼樣子呢? What Does Love Look and Feel Like?” You may ask.

 

It is because after seeing so many different such facilities, I feel fortunate to be able to use such facilities in modern ways at some places of the world; meanwhile, I think of all those who cannot have such privilege using such facilities everywhere globally due to war, inadequate or insufficient development: I pray for them all the time.

 

One of my students used to tell me “I will never go to Africa. After my brother came back from that journey to Africa with you, he told me EVERY THING about the toilet there. Knowing such details makes me sick.” This teenager talked to me matter-of-factly, and I could not really argue with him.

 

When, finally, some middle-class Africans who had witnessed my work for many years accepted me as “One of Them” according to them, I was invited to stay with a certain family for a while when I served the people there. That evening when I walked into this local family, I found I was led to the “bathroom” by the female owner of the house. Inside the bathroom, there were only four walls and a bucket looking as if it can hold less than 5 liters of water. Since I was told I should “take a bath” there, I was standing there for a total of 3 minutes, not knowing what to do, for inside that bucket, the water was less than 1 liter.

 

“Do they bathe themselves by using this small amount of water?” I asked myself.

 

Continued, more questions flew into my mind. “If there’s not even a faucet inside this space which they refer to as a ‘bathroom,’ where do they get the water?”

 

I gathered it must be their way of taking “a bath” there, so I took “my bath” with that little amount of water, first time ever, in my life.

 

Later, I would learn the water tank would be outside the house. Water should be manually fetched from outdoor to that “bathroom.” And this is the life of the middle class there.