ColorLinen: People Do Not Always Say Goodbye
“Mommy, why is Ironman not in the movie?” My son Jiajia asked me last Friday after we went to the movie theater to watch the newest Spiderman.
I still remember several months ago, me, San and Jiajia went to the movie theater as a family to watch Avengers 4, and it was the first time Jiajia watched Marvel movies in a movie theater. He was totally shocked by the special effects.
At the end of Avengers 4, there was a scene Ironman snapped his finger and saved the world. Then he died because of that. A feeling of sadness strongly came to San and me all in a sudden. It was like a train takes away one of our old friends, and we know this friend will never come back from the bottom of our hearts.
But things work differently with Jiajia. He is a kid who just starts to create his own understanding of his world. The name “Tony Stark” doesn’t mean a friend to him, it is just a name of his favorite character, and I suppose he doesn’t actually not what these characters are doing in the funeral scene. There is a high possibility that the only chance Jiajia would see the word “death” is when he reading a dictionary.
“Because he was hurt when he snapped his finger in front of Thanos, remember? Now he lives in a hospital for healing.” I said to my son.
“But why couldn’t they film a scene that he sleeps in that hospital?” Asked Jiajia.
“Because it is too far from us, and nobody could actually reach that hospital,” I said.
Jiajia looked confusing for a few minutes. Then he opened his mouth, and said softly, “Will he come back to us in future, Mommy?”
“Well... you know sometimes people do leave others behind just because they have to get on a train,” I said.
“You mean Tony goes to other places as he moves to another country?” Jiajia said.
“Yup. And we all have to admit it.” I said. This is both to me and to my seven-year-old son.
One day in future Jiajia will able to answer the question he asked when he was seven, and totally understand what it meant when one of your favorite characters dies or someone leaves you alone without telling. Meanwhile, he would also understand my analogy of people getting on a train. Time will keep going in its own way after these people leave us, and the best way to bid farewell with them is to take the next day as a normal day after we realize they will never go back.
