The Escapism

This thought is inspired by my mother. It was the words that she said everytime she ended the conversation on the telephone when calling from the US. I believe that we (my brother and I) felt kinda quirky at replying to her words at first, but then perhaps we got used to saying it in a normal and natural way, and most of the time we really meant it.
I believe that we Indonesians, often hear these words from people on television, especially American/Australian/British movies. They say this as they say goodbye. Between spouses, siblings, mother to children, children to parents, between friends, best friends, and couples.
And I believe, we (my brother and I) are affected by hearing these words or saying these words from and to mom. These words have opened the lock. The lock to our cold hearts. It opens the way to a new understanding towards one another. It expresses at least everything we’ve been wanting to say to one another for all this time, it reveals something buried deep in our hearts that we’ve been avoiding all this time, we (or surely I), am reluctant to show love and affection to my family. Why? because it’s been that way for years. And changing it into a more intimate relationship would be so hard to achieve. While infact, it isn’t. My mom has proven me wrong.

The words are: I LOVE YOU.

That’s what I found so amazing about English. Technically, I only know Indonesian, English, Mandarin, Japanese, few languages and cultures. But I’ve never heard of Japanese people (e.g. between a mother and her child) saying I love you in Japanese when they say goodbye. Let’s put it this way:
In Bahasa Indonesia (my mother tongue), usually I love you is translated into “Aku cinta kamu” or the more informal one is “Saya sayang kamu” or when we put the terms between a mother and her child “Mama sayang kamu”. Can you imagine saying that everytime we end the phone conversation? So hard to imagine. Hahaha
In Mandarin, perhaps we could say “Wo ai ni” but it’s also weird to say everytime we end a phone conversation. Or maybe there’s a better phrase that has the same meaningful context as mother to child’s “I love you”? that could be said everytime?
In Japanese, Aishiteru, which means “I love you”, can this be naturally said between a mother and child? or anata ga suki desu? which means I like you, or I fond of you? or samishii/koishii? which means I miss you? Does it sound weird?
How about rest of the other languages?

Can they say it better than or equally to English’s I LOVE YOU?
You are free to say these three words to your parents, your friends, your children, your neighbors, your spouse or lover (of course). You are free to say this to anyone you want, without having to worry about their reactions or about them not getting what you really mean, despite the terms of romance and sexual relationship. Love is universal. We are supposed to be free to say this to anyone besides those who are involved to our romance and love life.

Well, perhaps my mom is sort of adapting herself to the society around her, the American culture. Maybe she means it everytime she says it. Maybe at first we (my brother and I) only replied “I love you too” simply as a reply (you know what I mean). But then, afterwards, maybe, we also learn to mean what we say. We learn, to say “I love you too” in a natural way, so mom would feel it that we really mean it. Even when we’re apart.

No wonder why English has been the international language. It speaks and describes for itself more.

It’s amazingly and truly awesome, how my family is ‘united’ in some way while being separated. How come by being so far away from one another can bring us closer than ever before. How come by being so far from one another, we are indeed know one another even better than before. How come distance has made us understand. How come by not seeing one another’s face, we then can see one another’s heart. How come when I’m not near to my brother to share to him about God, then God proves His love to him in His own way? How come? It wasn’t my hand, it wasn’t my brain, and definitely wasn’t my strength. Someone must have organized all this beyond my control.