Chapter 70 Epilogue Digging a Well with a Needle

These small articles are from my columns on China Business News, Southern Weekly and Zhizu GQ.The column is either about society, about life, or just for fun, I have both.I have written so much, but I can't talk about my ambition.As for society, I have no research, and there is no high theory for humbleness. What I rely on is nothing more than what Zhuangzi said, "Use what you know to nourish what you don't know."But I think that's enough for the simple and basic things I'm talking about.I just judge right from wrong by instinct.As for the style of "prose", I have never had a real interest in it. As the old saying goes, a strong man can't do it.

I think the slightly special thing about these small articles is that they have a kind of voice, and the guy who makes the voice is still smart, childish and innocent, with a stubborn backbone, aware of the absurdity of life, and develops a funny and ironic attitude.He's a guy who dares to laugh at the world with a candy in his mouth.Apart from justice, intelligence, art and soul, there is almost nothing worthy of his respect. If anyone dares to offend these four, he will hold a grudge and wait for an opportunity to retaliate.He talked in circles, whistling and swearing.Nor does he take the articles seriously.Sometimes it's badly written, and he doesn't care.Sometimes when his writing was okay, he would push his limits, and when he was talking about a serious topic, he would start to lust, allowing himself Meng Lang to write a few hundred words, and then he would come back without any shame.If you call him a jerk, he'll enjoy himself, like a medal.This person has written nearly 70 articles, and I believe it will make you laugh 210 times, but it is not necessarily so witty. Most of this sense of humor comes from the attitude of "money can't buy me".

This person is not equal to me, he is the narrator of these articles, just a corner of my heart.But his attitude, I regard it as the foundation of my life.I am a naturalist and an individualist, neither of which is complicated, especially in these small essays.Compassion, the end of benevolence, is my starting point.An independent spirit, a free mind, is my end. The ancients wrote articles focusing on the theory of medicine and stones. Compared with them, these words may be frivolous and useless.But I think they're pretty serious too.Metaphorically speaking, these articles are the journey of a purring dog.This dog is me, and every time it sees a stone tablet it doesn't like, it raises its hind legs and pees on it.Along the way, it pissed off a lot of majestic steles, among which there are four. The first one is "everything that threatens freedom", the second one is "opportunism", the third one is "instrumental rationality", and the third one is "everything that threatens freedom". Four dollars is "uneducated".There are so many steles that he hates, but because of his temperament, he hates these 4 pieces the most.Interestingly, if you probe into the depths of history, you will find that the entire history of human civilization emits this endless smell of dog urine.

The theme of most of the articles here is actually Mr. Hu Shi's words, "Struggling for your personal freedom is fighting for freedom for the country." To be fair, this sentence is also "no lofty theory", nothing more than common sense.But in this country, in the 80 years since its publication, in terms of sobriety, friendliness, and importance, I don't think there is a second sentence comparable.I want a good personal life and a good society, how can I achieve it?I know no other way than to write little articles that contain similar truths, and so I do.Are they useful?I have no idea.I also don't like to care about whether it is useful or not.This is the work of digging a well with a needle.

The few articles published on "Zhizu GQ" are not listed here.I wrote about my own life experience in those articles, just like describing a certain kind of tree, and I think the flowers and leaves entangled on it are not bad.I also write with a true and unaffected attitude when I encounter the fireworks of small insights and the sparkle of insignificant souls.I think frankness is also a level, and finding good sentences is also a kind of freedom. Thank you to Yi Xianfeng, Liu Di, Yao Chenhui, Chen Mingyang, Ma Li, Wang Feng, Zhao Xiaomeng and Yunyun.I don't want to write a column, I think it is unimportant and does not meet my expectations, but without their request and urging, I would probably just look around and write nothing.

Vonnegut told a short story. In 1944, as a prisoner of war, he experienced the bombing of Dresden. Allied air strikes killed 135,000 people.He thought, "What the hell?" Years later, he revisited Dresden, lost in the maze of history and belonging to the former East Germany.He talked to a taxi driver with emotion.After he returned to the United States, the taxi driver wrote a letter to greet him, and the ending was quite witty, "I hope to meet you in a taxi in the free world one day." I like this kind of demeanor in the midst of suffering.This is exactly what I want to say to my readers.I believe that freedom is a universal value, that all human efforts should be aimed at, and that all good things are variations of freedom.Well, I am a part-time taxi driver, and you are also passers-by. In the afternoon when the times are changing, I am lucky to give you a ride.Please also forgive my style of telling jokes and not obeying traffic rules.