This
article was written before Spring 1961 by Chapman.
I vividly recall my first visit, as a boy of twelve,
to a big town. I had hardly been outside the confines of the village where I
was born and I had met and talked to no more than a few hundred people; but
those few hundred I knew very well …When
I reached the town that I mentioned, I was first overcome by the striking
change from the slow and quiet life I had been used to. Surely those swiftly
moving vehicles must inevitably collide with each other – or with us – at any moment, and those
tall buildings collapse and crush us all! But I soon forgot those fears and
began to notice something even more amazing – the crowds of people on the pavements who were hurrying
past each other without a smile. It gradually dawned on me that not only were
they not interested in one another; they were strangers, and apparently quite content to remain so. It was the lack
of friendliness among them, which most deeply distressed me.
I know that if we are to profit from the innumerable
mechanical inventions of this scientific age, it is necessary for us to live
together in large communities. We are thus enabled to provide and enjoy
material benefits which are rarely available in small villages – such a amenities
as good sanitation, cheap transport, well-stocked shop – and in addition the
very fact of our living together in large numbers make it possible for us to
live a richer social and cultural life . . .When I think of those crowded
pavements and of those thousands of people hurrying to and fro apparently with
no thought for others, I cannot help wondering whether the so-called benefits
of civilization in a mechanical age are not being purchased at too high price.
*Source:
Tran, van Dien, Complete English Essay Course, Saigon: Song Moi, 1961, p.106
*Source:
Tran, van Dien, Complete English Essay Course, Saigon: Song Moi, 1961, p.106
