Chapter 34 Thirty one two tigers run slowly, run slowly

Are you really "mediocre"?In fact, it depends on which runway you put yourself on.If you decide to be that morning walker, how can there be a problem with being "mediocre"?Could it be that your calmness, your gentleness and introversion, your quietness and humility are instead your most "outstanding" personality traits? "Failure Class" Compulsory Dear Andre: I learned from the email that you "failed" in your bid for an exchange study abroad.I froze for a moment.Ah?you failed? First thought: It's a pity that you lost a good opportunity to exchange studies.Second thought: Do you understand at twenty-one that you've entered the race track of life, and if you don't run fast enough, you'll be eliminated?Third thought: Well...you don't say it, but it must be very sad.

"On the runway of life competition, if you don't run fast enough, you will be eliminated." I chewed on this sudden idea, as if I opened the test paper and suddenly saw a brand-new test question that I had never seen before. Where to start. Think of a past event.When you entered junior high school when you were ten years old, I received a letter from the school asking parents to take new students to take music tests.Read the letter quickly and I'll take you there.The sound of the piano thumping came from the music classroom.We sat outside the door and waited, and you leaned on me shyly.The door opened, and a little boy with freckles came out following his mother, still clutching the music sheet.

It's our turn to walk in.A tall, thin music teacher sat at the piano. He asks if you want to play the piano.You look down at the floor and shake your head. You have learned the piano, but you know how bad you are. He asks if you want to play the violin.You look down at the floor and shake your head. The teacher said, "Then... can you sing?" You shook your head again. The teacher said patiently, "Then... let's sing "Two Tigers." He turned to the piano. Your little face was flushed purple, and you turned to look at me, your eyes begging for mercy.When the accompaniment sounds, you have to open your mouth and start to sing, two tigers...

It was a ten-year-old child, because he was too nervous, because he was too unconfident, and the voice he sang was like scratching the blackboard with his fingernails in reverse, which gave people goosebumps all over his body.Your voice fluctuated from high to low, then suddenly stopped, and you even forgot more than half of the words of "Two Tigers".It was a terrible disaster. The teacher finally closed the piano cover, turned around slowly, and looked at us with a strange expression. You stand there, small, thin body, head down, in that huge, empty classroom. After I got home, I took out the school letter and read it carefully, only to find out that the letter said that if you think your child has "extraordinarily outstanding musical talent", please come to audition and you can join the choir or orchestra group.

God what did I do? Andre, do you want to tell me that because of MM's fault, you have known since you were ten years old what "failure" is and that "loser" tastes bad?Have you learned how to be an intelligent loser, how to get up calmly and walk down with dignity from the place where you are on all fours and completely defeated? Which school is the idiot from? When did my "failure enlightenment" start? MM grew up in the countryside of Taiwan. The first time she entered a so-called "good" school in a big city was at the age of fourteen when she transferred from Miaoli County to Tainan City.Yuanli Township, Miaoli County is a medium-sized village; its junior high school is surrounded by watery, green rice fields and clear streams and ponds densely covered with bamboo forests.We are used to running barefoot between the field ridges, lifting our trousers to catch fish in the turbulent water.Physical education class is nothing more than running a few laps of the playground, playing basketball, and playing dodgeball-it is standing alone in the middle and someone throws the ball at you. If you miss it, you will be out.When running on the playground, out of the corner of your eye, you can see the flow of water in the distance, and the snow-white egrets fly leisurely over the paddy fields like long-legged ballerinas.The sky is so big, the mountains seem so small.The sour and juicy smell of green grass and the gentle cry of turtledoves are always mixed with the background of physical education class.

Then I transferred to Tainan City Middle School, which is said to be the best junior high school in Tainan City.The campus is small, with few trees, and the playground is tightly surrounded by buildings.On the first day of physical education class, I saw all kinds of strange "equipment", such as very long bamboo poles, heavy metal balls, guns that looked like fish in the sea, and so on.I don't know anyone, and no one knows me.When my name was called suddenly, I stood up blankly, at a loss, not knowing what to do.The physical education teacher pointed to a white circle drawn on the ground and asked me to stand in it—it meant that the ground was drawn as a prison.He told me to pick up a metal ball on the ground, and told me to pick it up and throw it.

I bent down, got the ball - and found that it was about as heavy as it could be.Then throw the ball hard.As soon as it was thrown out, the students watching burst into laughter.The teacher said, "No, let's do it again." I don't know what's wrong - isn't it telling me to drop the ball?So go back in the circle, bend over, get the ball, drop the ball.There was another burst of laughter.The teacher yelled, "No, do it again." I don't remember whether I held back my tears, but I just remember that the children beside me were inexplicably excited. I didn't expect today's physical education class to be so entertaining.

Go back to the circle, get the ball, and drop it harder.The teacher yelled, "That's not right, the idiot from which school can't even throw a shot put!" The teacher stepped into the circle, grabbed my shoulder, and said, "Idiot, after the ball is thrown, the body cannot exceed the circle, you know don't know?" The city kids laughed; they had never seen anyone who couldn't throw a shot put. Fourteen-year-old MM may not know the so-called "on the runway of life competition, if you don't run fast enough, you will be eliminated", but what the urban-rural gap and the wealth inequality mean, you will never forget it.What's interesting is that what this "failed enlightenment" taught me was not "you must be a person in that city in the future", but "you must not tolerate the gap between urban and rural areas and the inequality between rich and poor in the future." unfair".That is to say, the lesson of "failure enlightenment" is not to enter the ranks of "successful people", but to challenge and question the definition of "successful people".

on which runway I get a lot of letters from readers.For some, I can simply reply with one or two sentences that I think may not be completely meaningless. For more, besides thank you, I can only be humble and silent.The weight of life is often beyond our imagination, and saying anything may be hypocritical and fatal.Below are a few letters to share with Andre. MM dared to reply a little: Professor Long, I was very excited after reading your "Reality Generation". I try to answer the question you asked Andre: what are you going to do in the future?I would say: I don't know.And I have a master's degree from National Taiwan University, and I have also studied in the United States, and now I have a job.

But I deeply feel my "mediocrity".Almost all of my classmates or colleagues are younger than me, better than me, and more actively pursuing "excellence" than me.In the company I work for, I'm like an invisible man - I'm short, and I'm never seen in a group of people.I have an ordinary face, and anyone who sees me will not remember it.In terms of work performance, I will always be the one with the least visible achievements. No superior will reward me, and no colleague will envy me.When others look at me, they get the impression that this person has no personality.Colleagues say I'm a gentle, nice guy or something, but nobody remembers me or is interested in knowing more about me, and I don't think there's anything interesting about me.Yes, I am such a person without any characteristics.

You ask me if I am under pressure?Yes, I feel that other people are trying their best and pushing forward.Life is clearly a competitive race track for the survival of the fittest, and I find it scary.I am still very young, the road ahead looks very long, everyone is running fast, and you walk slowly alone, feeling very lonely and flustered, as if you will be eliminated and discarded at any time.I also want to be a part of the crowd and run at the speed of everyone, but... I am mediocre and have no self-confidence... Writing this letter makes me tremble. PM PM, Imagine that on a track, someone is running 5,000 meters, someone is sprinting for 100 meters, and someone is taking an early morning walk.Will the person who runs 5,000 meters "shake" when he sees the person who runs 100 meters nervous and flushed?No, because he knew he was running 5,000 meters. The person who walks the dog in the morning sees the man who ran the 5,000 meters chasing him, will he be frightened and feel that he will be "eliminated"?No, because he knew he had come for a walk. Are you really "mediocre"?In fact, it depends on which runway you put yourself on.If you decide to be that morning walker, how can there be a problem with being "mediocre"?Could it be that your calmness, your gentleness and introversion, your quietness and humility are instead your most "outstanding" personality traits? MM MM actually dare not reply: Dr Long, I am from Hong Kong and I am 25 years old. I recently read your letter to Andre, "Brush the Hippo's Teeth", which brought me an indescribable thought shock.What you said to Andre was like what you said to me. I felt as if I had been hit in the head, and I suddenly woke up from the confusion. Going in the right direction, although I didn't give up my life because of setbacks, but the more I went, the more I went wrong. "I also ask you to study hard, not because I want you to compare your achievements with others, but because I hope you will have the right to choose in the future, choose meaningful and time-consuming jobs, instead of being forced to make a living." This sentence Words stabbed the underlying wound in me, the very person who struggles daily with the pain of being "forced to make a living". When I was less than eighteen years old, I dropped out of school to work in a small company because of my poor family environment.A few years later, the year my mother passed away, I worked part-time and was admitted to a college, but unfortunately I gave up because I was too tired.When I was twenty-three years old, I got married. I married for love. I longed to have my own family. I thought that as long as I had a stable job, I would be able to carry a family.However, only now did I truly appreciate the weight of real life, which weighed me down so much that I couldn't lift my head up, and couldn't even breathe.In order to live, all ideals had to be given up, and it was just a vain dream to want to study again.I recognized my own humbleness, my failure, and what seemed like a permanent failure. It is only today that I realize that there is no hope for my future!Tell me how to face myself, do I still have hope?Where is hope? SS SS, A big tree grows like a big tree; a small grass grows like a small grass.Most people in this world are just grass.You are not alone. MM MM, I read "Brush the Hippo's Teeth" and cried for three full minutes.I can't help but examine my soul: what am I thinking, what am I doing, what am I saying, what am I dreaming about every day, all my anger, frustration, heartbreak and disappointment... For years, I feel like I can't Finding a language to express or release a backlog of feelings inside of me, I feel like I've been struggling with absolute loneliness - until I read your "Brush the Hippo's Teeth". What you say about "mediocre" brings a surge of painful gratitude to me.I am a married woman of thirty.Married life did not make me feel happy, but made me tense, irritable and restless.Housework is trivial and complicated, and the thought of having a baby fills me with dread.My husband often falls asleep when he comes home from exhaustion, and I have to face all the problems in life by myself.I often feel that I am not his wife, I am the mother who has to bear all the burdens. I find myself in a state of tension, confusion, helplessness, and excitement every day.I was either yelling or crying at my husband.The funniest thing is that I am a social worker who specializes in helping emotionally unstable children, counseling them to understand their emotions and regulate their emotional expression, but I am so helpless about my own setbacks.I really want to know, do women who are older than me, like you, also go through this stage?A new woman in the 21st century, when she is thirty years old, how should she make various life decisions? Tingting Tingting, If I say, yes, MM has also gone through such pain and confusion, will you feel a little more strength?Yes, I have.Moreover, many of my female friends, no matter how "successful" they are now, have also gone through such darkness. MM