In my whole life, in just a few decades, I have been working hard almost non-stop, moving towards a certain goal. But what exactly this goal is, there are many answers.
Some people think it would be nice to have a spacious and comfortable house, just like ordinary people in the market; but this is often not the ideal end point. When a house is available, they think how good it would be to have a car; however, this is still not the end. When I have a car, I may think about other things. The material life in this world has been enriched beyond anyone’s imagination. Even if you pay attention to them 24 hours a day, it may be difficult to keep up with the trend. Therefore, people are always suffering, suffering from not having a big house, suffering from not having a famous car. Everything is painful. But these don’t seem to be my ideal life.
Others want to have a nice family. Loving parents, loving couples, excellent children. Having a family and being with me and spending the long hours of my life together is nice and necessary, but not my ideal life either.
I never knew what kind of life I wanted, and I was always looking for my ideal life.
Many years ago, I thought that I could get my ideal life only by leaving my parents far away, but ten years later, I started to miss my hometown. I often stand on my small terrace and watch the sun set in the west, thinking sadly of my parents, my grandmother, and even a long-lost local accent, a red date hanging on a branch in autumn. At one time, I thought that a wardrobe full of fancy clothes was my ideal life, but when my body wrapped in blunt clothes without aura felt that even walking was a heavy burden, I knew that the so-called fancy clothes were nothing but It’s just vanity. Later, I also thought that a big and noble house and a beautiful car were what I wanted. But now, I have been told that whether it is a house or a car, it turns out that it is at the expense of the rapid depletion of the earth’s resources. I know that I cannot afford such a luxurious life.
When I walked into the home of a scholar at Southwest Jiaotong University, I was shocked, and I thought maybe this was the ideal life I wanted.
At first, what struck me was the collection of books in his home. It is no exaggeration to say that his home is a library. In the simple house with three bedrooms and one living room, the most things are books. The two walls of the living room are full of books, in his words: book instead of wall. Books neatly lined up on two walls. In the study, apart from the space occupied by the windows and the desk, there are only books, from the ground to the ceiling. anything else! The cheerful hostess led me to the bathroom, oh, just by the corridor in front of the bathroom door, from the floor to the ceiling, there is another wall of books! As far as the eye can see, what else is there in this family besides books? A TV, two short sofas, two desks, two computers, and a bed, except for books, these are the most basic daily necessities. Moreover, the able hostess has put a call number on each book and saved it all into the computer, which makes it much faster to find books.
In the gaps between the edge of the bookshelf and the wall, many handicrafts are arranged. Yixing’s purple clay pot, Beijing’s facial makeup, Ming porcelain from a friend… ho, and a bamboo hat from the ancient city of Fenghuang, which is an ordinary daily necessities that can be seen everywhere in my hometown. The hostess introduced us one by one. It turns out that these things are the witnesses of their couple’s travels for many years. Like to walk around, the hostess said, while the host smiled. In fact, I have seen his gong. In the winter of 2002, he came to Chicheng, and we accompanied him up to Jiuhua Mountain. When he was going up the long stone steps in front of the Hall of Flesh Body, he was nearly sixty years old and he was the first to reach the front of the hall without changing his face. . And I, nearly thirty years younger than him, took several breaks in the middle.
In the late evening, everyone went to the campus restaurant for dinner. Usually this time is when we swim. On the way, the hostess told us. is it? such a cold day? Yes, we go swimming for an hour every day, especially when it’s raining. Why is it raining? Because there are fewer people on rainy days, you can be more free and enjoy yourself! she explained. I can’t help but be amazed that women in their fifties still have such habit and power, how can I not be surprised? At least, I can’t do it myself. This is another shock. However, there was something that shocked me even more.
At the dinner table, she asked me if I had children. Not yet, I told her frankly that I didn’t really want it. OK, then we’re friends, because we don’t want children either. I opened my mouth wide. It is understandable to say that it is a fashion for young people of today to not want children, but people her age don’t want children, which really surprised me. Chinese couples like them, which one does not have three or four children, the more the better? Don’t feel like something is missing? I asked. Her answer was that if I had children, my career would definitely be in jeopardy. Her career is above all else.
It seems that reading, writing, traveling, and exercising is all they have in life. Their lives are free, not vulgar, nor lonely, and the spiritual sky is always sunny-perhaps, this is one of the ideal lives I yearn for.
