couplesexchanegrings
︎︎︎2024 couplesexchangerings
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What can we exchange? Rings are exchangeable if we don't imbue them with meanings. Many intangible things, we've imagined them all. We give them shapes, shed tears for them. Tears falling into a tear ocean would exchange for the sound of coins dropping into a wishing fountain. They cannot be retained. Youth cannot be retained, neither can love nor memories…
In traditional culture, a story always concludes with a wedding or a funeral. Weddings and funerals are about conclusions. The part we cannot retain is sealed and mourned in this ceremony. Saying the word "children" makes me secretly happy. The word can only exist on certain kinds of surfaces while all real children exist everywhere. The homonym of "toddler" in Chinese is "to be happy secretly." Because the joy of children cannot be taken away. They won't explain to you what makes them happy, they still have many languages they don't know how to use.
It was very painful when I first started learning English, I was always explaining myself. When you become so familiar with a language that you are not alienated from it, you have become it. You inherit its rules, you imagine its chaos. Sometimes when you and your lover walk into a damp summer night, you think of his habits, and you ask him to do impossible things for you. Can you let the heavens and the earth see your secrets? I say this believing that the earth cannot see the holes in the soles of your shoes. The sky cannot count the countless strands of hair on your head.
I believe there is a part of you in that ring. I once saw an artist who made a necklace out of his ribs and gave it to his mother and lover. He believed in the myth of women. He might also think that jewelry is something that can be cherished. When we touch something too important, we have to stop approaching it and turn to the most surface, external things for help. You cannot just give your ribs as a gift as if you are treating someone like a dog. "Hey, go eat my bone!" You cannot do such things. It's so disrespectful.
AI翻译，人类修改：我们能交换什么？戒指是可以交换的，只要我们不赋予它们意义。许多无形的事物，我们都想象过了。我们给它们赋予形状，为它们流泪。泪水落入海，换来的是硬币掉入许愿池的声音。无形的，无法被保留。青春，爱，记忆……
在传统文化中，故事总以婚礼或葬礼作为结尾。婚礼和葬礼象征着结束。那些我们无法保留的东西，在这个仪式中被封存并哀悼。说出“toddler”这个词让我暗自开心。这个词只能存在于某些特定的表面上，而真正的孩子却无处不在。“toddler”在中文中与“偷得乐”谐音，因为孩子的快乐是无法被夺走的。他们不会向你解释是什么让他们快乐，因为他们还有许多尚未学会使用的语言。
刚开始学英语时，我感到非常痛苦，我总是在为自己解释。当你变得如此熟悉一门语言，以至于不再感到疏离时，你就成了这门语言的一部分。你继承了它的规则，想象了它的混乱。有时，当你和爱人走进潮湿的夏夜，你会想起他的习惯，并向他提出一些不可能实现的要求。你能让天地看见你的秘密吗？我这么说是因为我相信大地看不见你鞋底的洞，天空数不清你的头发丝。
我相信那枚戒指里有你的一部分。我曾见过一位艺术家，他用自己的肋骨做成项链，送给母亲和情人。他相信关于女性的神话。他或许也认为珠宝是可以珍视的。当我们触碰到某些过于重要的事物时，我们不得不停止接近它，而转向最表面的、外在的东西寻求帮助。你不能像对待狗一样，把你的肋骨当作礼物送给别人。“嘿，去吃我的骨头吧！”你不能做这样的事，这太不尊重了。