Chapter 4 interview the poor

For a whole year, I only determined one topic for my writing: Realism of ordinary people. The original intention of asking such a topic for myself was out of an emotion.Over the years, more and more flashy things have emerged in life. Although there are so many beautiful things in eyes, it is dazzling to see, but for some reason, gradually watching more lively and flashy things, and savoring carefully, the feeling in my heart is chaotic. Get rid of the confusion, and what remains is blankness and emptiness. Facing the confusion and emptiness in my heart, I suddenly realized that the foundation of life is the most simple part after all, which is the part that connects any period and any century.It can be said that misery and hardship are an eternal social phenomenon that should be paid attention to and deserves attention.This made me decide to go to the bottom of the city to interview ordinary people who live in hardship.

I have been used to it for many years, and the interviewees selected are generally celebrities.Celebrity.Heroes and champions publicize their achievements and achievements, and it is easy to write good-looking articles, eloquently.But what do you want to reflect when you interview ordinary people, especially the impoverished poor?Is it just to plead for the people to write about hardships and hardships, so as to attract some sympathy and help? At the beginning of 1995, when I started going in and out of the shabby shantytowns in the cold spring, I was still unable to answer my own questions.And going in and out of those dilapidated houses, listening to those lonely old people tell their life experiences calmly, my heart was shaken.Feeling myself, I know that I was shocked not because of their shabby houses, not because of their loneliness, but because of their calmness in dealing with "shabby" and "lonely".There is an old mother named Su Jinfeng who is eighty-nine years old and lives alone in a four-square-meter kitchen with a cloakroom. She only has eighteen yuan a month for living expenses. How can she live like this?It's unimaginable.However, the thin old lady in front of me has no blindness or deafness, her white hair is neatly combed, and the old cotton-padded jacket with the slanted breasts on her body has been washed clean.She told me that of her eighteen yuan, eight yuan was a non-staple food subsidy issued by the government, and the other ten yuan was given by her former employer. She also told me that she has two sons, so she cannot enjoy government relief.I immediately asked: Why don't the two sons take care of you?The old lady replied without complaint: I came to Shanghai to be a servant when I was in my early twenties, and the two little girls were raised by my mother-in-law. I didn't raise them, so I can't rely on them, and I don't want to rely on them.Her words are so simple and clear: "I can't rely on it" and "I don't want to rely on it". This is the principle of her life, her ambition, her self-esteem, and her independence.I am in awe.Although she is so poor, she still doesn't complain about anyone, and she doesn't expect anyone.Although she has never studied and received no education, the principles she has followed in her life are the most basic and the most noble. There are things that beautiful men and women don't have.

After leaving Su Jinfeng’s old mother’s stove, I realized something. Interviewing and writing about ordinary people enabled me to get back to basics.In the pursuit of novelty, the pursuit of dazzling.Pursue fashion.Pursue substance.In the trend of pursuing money, we unknowingly lose the ordinary and simple.In fact, ordinaryness and simplicity, the same soil, the same air, and the same food are the foundation of life.The life of ordinary people is to return to the basics.In Xu Aying and Shi Aling's home, I deeply felt this kind of "rooted and soiled" life.These are two unrelated working women, one is a nanny, and the other is a nanny hired by the employer for the paralyzed nanny. For more than 20 years, they have lived together like brothers and sisters.Xu Aying is nearly ninety years old, and Shi Aling is sixty-three this year. The two of them maintain a simple life with the living expenses of more than 200 yuan shared by the six children of their employer.Shi Aling told me that the third daughter of the host family has settled in the United States, and five years ago, she obtained a passport for Shi Aling and asked her to go to the United States as a nanny, but Xu Aying was reluctant to let her go, and she cried every day. The United States earns more money and sends it back to you.Xu Aying just shook her head: I don't care about money.Speaking of this, Shi Aling burst into tears: She just won't let me go, if I don't go, I won't go.While wiping tears, Shi Aling pointed to Xu Aying and said: I made her the cotton trousers and socks and shoes on her feet. If I really want to leave, I really can't let her go.Sitting in front of these two old people, I saw that they arranged the fate of poverty so harmoniously.So warm, I was deeply moved by their harmony and warmth, and their harmony and warmth told me that the most important thing people need is safety, dependence, and love.In this bustling city, although they did not enjoy the prosperity, they enjoyed a very natural and essential self.

During these days of writing "Reality of the Common People", I obviously feel that I have become calmer, because, facing their poverty and tranquility, I have no reason to be dissatisfied or complain; Simplicity, I finally understand that the poor in this world can be very rich, and the rich in this world can also be poor, regardless of whether the poor or the rich, the key is this word - "people". Straight, I get a lot out of interviewing poor people.