The 128 most classic philosophical essays in the world

Chapter 72
[China] Lin Qingxuan

To find the innermost essence of life, there can be no excuses.When we have excuses, the essence will not be revealed.

Passing by a courtyard house in the countryside, I saw a child crying loudly, and my mother comforted me distressedly.

The mother hugged the child lovingly with one hand, slapped the floor vigorously with the other hand, and said to the child:
"Oops! It's all because of the unevenness of the soil, which caused Baby Ruan to fall down. Mom will pat the soil for you. Oops!"

The movement of the mother patting the ground was so funny and exaggerated that the crying child couldn't help laughing out of tears.

I stood aside and watched this scene, feeling very warm in my heart, thinking that my mother had comforted me like this before.Not just my mother, almost all parents in the countryside used to comfort their children in this way.

When I tripped over a branch while running, I broke the branch and said: "Bad branch! How can I trip my good boy." When I accidentally fell while walking, I beat and scolded the ground, saying: "Bad land, how can I trip my good boy?" It can cause my good boy to fall." Even if there is no reason to fall, and there is nothing to blame, he scolds the wind and says, "It's the wind that makes my sweetheart fall."

When we were young, we all believed it was true that our falls were caused by the wind, the ground, or a branch. We would, like our parents, make excuses to comfort ourselves without realizing that we were walking carelessly.

I remember once, when I was running in front of the court, I accidentally fell and my head was bleeding.Mom ran out of the kitchen, looked left and right, but couldn't find anything to beat and scold, because the land in front of the court was very flat, with neither branches nor pebbles.

My mother was stunned for a long time, and I had already stood up, but she was still there, holding a spatula in her hand, which looked a little funny.

My mother saw me looking at her, thinking I was going to cry out loud, and suddenly scolded the sky loudly: "It's all such a bad wind, it blows Ah Xuanzi down!"

I caressed the wound on my head and said to my mother, "Mom, it wasn't because of the wind, I fell down accidentally."

At that time, there was indeed only sunshine in front of the court, and there was no wind.

At this time, my mother smiled brightly like the sun, and came to inspect my wound, and said with relief: "You are a big man!"

Mom means that I have grown up and can bear my own mistakes and failures.When we realize that any kind of fall is due to our own carelessness instead of looking for excuses, then we are just like when we fell in love and marriage, and also like when we were children...even if the ground Rough roads, thorny roads, and storms should not be an excuse for us to stumble.The things that should be examined most are errors and failures.

A child's fall is at most a flesh injury, and marriage frustration is at best a heart-piercing pain, which does not hurt the essence of emotion.Therefore, one should not lose the courage to love when one is hurt in love; one should not lose the heart to bear when suffering.

To find the innermost essence of life, there can be no excuses.When we have excuses, the essence will not be revealed.

I don't have any excuses for my past emotional injuries and marriage setbacks. These are the inevitable paths of my life.I am also willing to bear any criticism, and treat these criticisms as stone steps to look back at my own life.

Falling in the wind and crying in love are inevitable journeys in life.If we can learn to have a broader mind in every journey, and if we can not lose the courage of true love and the pursuit of beauty, won't all setbacks have profound meaning?I stood looking at the image of the mother patting the land to comfort the child, recalling the past, and thinking that there may never be a peaceful day in our life, but we must make our hearts peaceful only in the present moment.

Heart mark notes
The road of life will not always be smooth sailing. In a corner you don't pay attention to, there will always be many setbacks and failures that will become your stumbling blocks.The difference is that when faced with setbacks and failures, some people will only blame others and never recover from the setback; while some people have learned introspection and tolerance in the process of struggling, and they regard failure as a stepping stone to success.On the road of growth, failure is inevitable. Only by facing it calmly can we realize the true value of failure.Learning from failure is more important than success.

If you fall in the wind, don't complain about the wind. Some setbacks are an essential link in life, just as the article says: Maybe our life may never have a peaceful day, but if we want to make our hearts peaceful, it is in the moment of changing our minds. Give life a calm smile, give fate a courage to bear, then life will usher in a turn of events.

(End of this chapter)