Whenever the patient laid in the bed in the hospital, the sigh was rendered around within this white tower. None of us can escape the brand: whether the life a torturing that goes slowly, or a journey that we must do all we can? All patients want could be just someone come to her, “caring” seems far more than we imagine. We all have experienced and seen the scene similarly, yet few of us ever dig in the core of the question. Is giving more and explicit information to patients always the better way? The investigation is the beginning of a series of courses on USR project. Even it is merely the beginning, there are so many different lives of different individuals, learning and discussing a different aspect of “caring”.
College students and seniors meet in a USR course called "philosophy of caring." They think, reflect, imagine every cut in the caring scenes. They philosophize every possible question that arose in the caring practice together, like what care means, for instance, in the classroom. You can always see seniors who meditate their whole life while the recollection coming up to the mind, as well as college students who got shining in their eyes and were attracted by the philosophical questions which they may never think like these ways. What would happen, then? Debating, sharing, appreciating, and interacting. Once upon a time, “salon” was in vogue all over western Europe, on the courses of USR project we got another conversant get-together.
Moreover, the seniors who join the course have become "senior citizen lecturers". If the discussion only operating in the course, how can we imagine the unfortunate about the precious, right? Seniors knead their own caring experience, learned philosophical knowledge, and understanding from interacting with the college students to produce their lecture. These lectures will be, like a flame, lighting up the communities around here, even the other seniors who cannot join the courses have an opportunity to meet philosophy, which is something their might interest in when they were young however cannot pay attention to, or, something does help for them to rationally face the pain and suffer about caring they have experienced. Also, college students have the chance to listen to these as well. Although the pandemic outbreak disrupts the step of “senior citizen lectures”, they seize the time that still with young men and speech to them. Every youth re-think, re-understand, and re-construct all they learned as well as they thought.
Like a runner warm up already, the project strengthened more after moving- we engrave another trace: setting up a simple studio, putting a giant green screen, and turning on the camera, then the senior citizen lecturers take a deep breath and share their "philosophy of care". That is, the speech and sharing of senior citizen lectures not only for young men and the other seniors but also for anyone. These videos could left something in everyone who walks by on the internet. We do know whether how people live their lives, the practice and understanding of caring are always an important topic. Through the method, these videos will, like seeds, be fermented at a particular moment. Although we don’t know the exact time, it’s okay, at least senior citizen lectures have done the mission of sowing, and it worth the time and resources to train them.
We got 50 college students and about 30 seniors of the course “philosophy of caring”. After all, they were not just want to learn, but want to contribute as well. On the other hand, they were not just want to know the surface of care, but want to know the core of caring. Especially not only during the outbreak of Covid-19 but our society has also been aging for a long time, it is general to take care of no matter kids or adults and young or old. Is Philosophy useless? Are there more confident answer not from members from the course? Instead judge so quickly, you are suggested to check the video we shoot and put on the internet, then, you may figure out the judgement as well as be reminded that once upon a time you did interest in philosophy. Let us pull the lens back to the USR project.
The energy is still brewing, the soil of NYMU is still fertile. The following plant of the course has begun to absorb nutrients and has been exposed to sunshine. 12 seniors are being trained to become citizen lecturers in the Autumn course in 2020 called “Value theories of mind and death”, some of them are new seniors, some of them are old friends, they interacting with 50 college students and exchanging ideas with each other. We don’t stop at the scenes of caring, we must dig the hole deeper. The course shifts the lens from caring to a topic that even more difficult for Taiwanese people called death, which is a far but also near, mystery but also familiar, evoking fear but also treated gently issue. Doesn’t it? How many young men ever treat death as a curious issue, unless they have experienced the disappearance that never meets again? In the contrast, most seniors have the experience that, memories, like ones about caring, still surround in their mind, thus they are the most appropriate group to learn and think about death with college students.
Now we have started the class a few times. Both young men and seniors are more active than we expect: there is a senior who moves with difficulty while he joins the class every single time. Through the instance we can inform that seniors have more energy than we think, the best way to use the stream of the energy is to create an area and let them continue to contribute the society, as well as to the college student, with their wisdom and activity.
The severe winter is coming, yet the runners giving out heat keep sparking the flame, “philosophy” continues to be spread to different communities.