Route 5 Bus and Aphasia——Memories of NJUST
Route 5 Bus and Aphasia——Memories of NJUST
At Nanjing University of Science and Technology (NJUST), a saying once circulated: If someone can walk with you along Road No. 3 to the end, then they can walk with you through the rest of your life.
Four years in Nanjing sped by like a train, and now we’ve reached the platform. Looking back at those days of falling plane tree leaves and gentle moonlight, it feels like a dream I never wanted to wake from. Though I never met that special someone to walk Road No. 3 with me, I was fortunate enough to be an observer and witness to many beautiful stories.
Life is indeed a long journey — don’t rush to ask about the ending; the scenery along the way is enough to fill your bags.
1. Aphasia
Aphasia is an acquired communication disorder caused by brain damage. It fragments the ability to understand, express, read, write, repeat, or even call a name.
In a photography elective class, I once heard the teacher tell an incredibly moving story —
A senior student, due to the pain of heartbreak and the pressures of life, suddenly developed aphasia. She had to temporarily leave campus and took a very long break from school. During those silent, lengthy days, she slowly learned to speak again, piece by piece rebuilding her broken language, and little by little, came to understand what life truly is.
Later, with a healed heart, she wrote this song, "Route 5 Bus".
In truth, no matter what storms we go through, the essence of life never fades. It’s just that we fixate so much on one person or one thing that we close our eyes to the colors around us. But when we finally turn around, we suddenly realize —
Oh, life has always been just like this.
As the French saying goes: C’est La Vie.
2. Route 5 Bus
The senior’s singing depicts lighthearted, pleasant moments of life at NJUST. The melody flows gently, yet hides a faint trace of sorrow and a touch of helplessness.
There was a time when I too tossed and turned, heartbroken over unattainable love. But her story suddenly made me understand the truest form of love and life —
Perhaps life isn’t so dazzling or vivid.
It’s just plain, simple, ordinary.
We ourselves misunderstand what it originally looks like.
We ourselves lose that unchanging, genuine heart.
But as long as the genuine heart remains, love will surely come.
Maybe one day, I will also meet that special someone willing to walk Road No. 3 with me, and board the “Route 5 Bus” of my own life.
When that time comes, will I, like that senior, wear a faint smile while feeling completely at ease?
The Route 5 Bus can’t carry away my yearning
But the crowd on Road No. 3 remains the same
I remember that night outside Gate No. 1
When we stood shoulder to shoulder
The weather in Nanjing is gradually warming
Yet my heart grows colder day by day
What to do with this drifting love
Oh, I just can’t bear
To leave it behind in the summer
No matter how the world changes
My love for you will never change
No matter how you change
I will love you still
The remaining happiness is still in my hands
But how can we hold back time
Who is lamenting, who is lingering
Oh, we have still come
To the end of the road
No matter how the world changes
My love for you will never change
No matter how you change
I will love you still
Perhaps we won’t meet for many years
Who will remember the past by then
But when our temples have turned grey
And we flip through those old photos
Those yellowed years
They’ve always been inside my heart
Those years in the song
They’ve always been inside my heart