This year, a long time has passed. Every day becomes a year. After this year, our life has increased a lot. No matter what age you are, everyone's life has added a little vicissitudes because of this year. Even children will be much earlier after this year.
This year is destined to be unforgettable. Even if human history cuts corners, it will never scribble, let alone leave pages blank. The vicissitudes of this year give people the same background color, which is painted on different life background boards, deep or shallow, thick or light. No one can escape its ghostly influence and will definitely leave mottled traces and marks on our life trajectory.
All colorful lives and all sentient beings have to stop and feel at ease in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic. Life was forced to stop, travel was suddenly interrupted, and everything was caught off guard. The proudest and noblest creature on this planet indulges its self-confidence and rationality in peacetime, thinking that science and technology can give us perseverance and keep disasters and diseases out of the dead sea; We are blindly optimistic and confident about our ability, and always feel that the collective wisdom of human beings is enough to resist all kinds of disasters.
This epidemic played a cruel joke on the fate of mankind and made us pay a heavy price. It reminds us once again that our forgetful self-confidence and blind optimism cannot protect our safe journey. Even if the weather is fine, don't forget to take an umbrella to prevent accidents.
After this year, we deeply realized the ups and downs of life and the thickness of life. The fate of mankind can't be Ma Pingchuan. It suddenly stumbles and overturns the inertia of life. The so-called bon voyage was overthrown this year. The fierceness and horror of the COVID-19 epidemic enveloped our lives, and we collectively entered the darkest moment. After a roller coaster ride, everyone has experienced soul torture and polar test. Among the Jedi in no way back, there is no choice but to learn to be Sisyphus and fight against fate.
A fragile life can also be lived in another way. The epidemic is a purgatory test. Faced with the inevitable challenge of fate, we can only turn passivity into initiative and stay in the Jedi. As a result, we have seen too many ordinary heroes go upstream in adversity. In the era of peace and tranquility, these ordinary heroes gushing against the wind are all unknown grass. They live in their own mediocrity, scattered in ordinary alleys, living their own lives and living a stable life.
However, there was a thunder on the ground and the epidemic was born, which disrupted everyone's life rhythm. In front of COVID-19, the public enemy of mankind, people scattered all over the world gathered together for a common goal from their "cocoon houses" and undertook the anti-epidemic mission at their respective points.
This is a test of intelligence. In the face of this sudden disaster, human wisdom is close to the limit. Although advanced knowledge and rapid technology have created a thick security barrier for us, they have failed to ensure the safety of mankind all the way and the peace of life and death. The sudden danger has seriously impacted the human security line, and also activated human survival instinct and emergency wisdom. Facing the life-and-death exam, human wisdom is not only manifested in the technical emergency collection to overcome diseases, but also in human social wisdom. In this way, people in danger of the epidemic will be rescued ashore one by one, and Noah's Ark of human wisdom will save mankind from the Dead Sea.
This is a great test of will. In the face of a dangerous epidemic, human flesh and blood is fragile, but people are will animals. Life and death test the bottom line of human will. We saw the delicate girl who turned to fight the epidemic, dressed in white and strong; We saw the takeaway brother, who was not afraid of the disease and went against the fire; More importantly, we can see that people all over the country have fallen in love with this country. Qi Xin has made concerted efforts to fight the epidemic, turning all lowercase into uppercase and refining "self" into "big". This is a relay of will and a collection of wisdom.
This is a system test. The preciseness and hardness of the catastrophe testing system. When all mankind is caught in an unprecedented anti-epidemic war, institutional competition is inevitable. Before the great epidemic, all beings are equal. However, people living in different institutional backgrounds will show different anti-epidemic forces because of different systems. In the face of this huge disaster, countries that have always shown institutional superiority have become vulnerable. Those so-called superior systems can't protect the people's bottom line security. Excuse me, where is its superiority? How to win or lose in institutional competition, this big exam has given a clear answer. In fact, this epidemic has inadvertently become a vivid classroom for national education.
This is a great test of human civilization. Human civilization has experienced thousands of years of evolution, sun and rain, and all kinds of extreme weather. After numerous tests, it has continued to this day. Today, human civilization has suffered another historic blow and experienced an unprecedented test. In the face of this epic exam, human beings still keep standing posture, do not bend over or lie down, but choose to deal with extreme challenges in a unique and civilized way.
Through this year, we have learned tenacity, understanding and tolerance, firmness and humility. In the meantime, although we have encountered fright, misunderstanding, conflict and discrimination, we are convinced that mantis can't stop the rolling of the wheel of history, conspiracy can't stop outwitting, smog can't stop the sun, and the pass can't stop the river. In this year, after the big exam, we have developed a strong heart, lung and brain.
Now that the long and cold winter has passed, what can't be tolerated? Facing the future, we have reason to be full of confidence. With our wisdom, will, system and civilization, we can still move forward calmly in the storm.
(The author is Executive Dean and Professor of School of Journalism, Fudan University)