Every night after work, I will come out of xiamen metro, and sometimes I will see an old man standing by the escalator at the subway entrance.
His stall is not a stall. He just put two small plastic bags on the ground, with some lemons and passionflowers on them, about a dozen or twenty. The old man looks over sixty years old, thin and ragged, wearing slippers, sitting curled up on the ground with a newspaper under his ass. He crossed his hands on his knees and stared at the floor motionless.
The subway is crowded with pedestrians, and everyone is in a hurry. The old man's stall is located at the corner, and basically no one will notice him. Even if he saw it, he would turn a blind eye. Naturally, no one will buy his things.
I have seen him several times, and I have not paid much attention to him, nor have I told anyone about him or discussed him.
Until one time, I was discussing life with my brothers, and my brother ZBB suddenly mentioned this old man.
"In fact, we are very happy. What is a miserable life? Look at the old man standing at the subway entrance ... "He said.
This seems to have given me a heavy blow. In the past, the image of the old man in the subway was a vague concept, which existed in my mind piecemeal. When ZBB mentioned him, he was instantly activated in my mind and became an extremely clear image, so real and profound, just like a suffering I experienced personally, which seemed unforgettable.
At that time, no one said anything about the old man, but the image of the old man was deeply imprinted in my mind.
Since then, I have never seen the old man at the subway entrance. But sometimes I wonder, what kind of story does this old man have, and why did he come out to set up a stall at that age? Has he ever sold anything? Where does he live? Does he have children? Where are his relatives? What kind of life experience makes him like a puppet in the subway crowd, life is worse than death!
I saw an old couple performing arts on the overpass that day, probably from Henan, because they were singing Henan Opera. They painted painted faces, wore costumes and had a small horn beside them.
When I passed by, the old lady sang along with the voice from the loudspeaker, while the old man sat aside to rest. I noticed that the old woman was not singing, but her voice came from the loudspeaker. She's just putting on airs, and besides, she can't even lip-sync.
People come and go on the overpass, and everyone turns a blind eye, just trying to catch their own way. In fact, they didn't do anything. Maybe they don't even know it.
Not to mention their lip-synching, even if it is true, how can this ancient art form be welcomed by people in Guangzhou, where the modern entertainment industry is highly developed? Who will listen? Their clothes and costumes, like the ancients who crossed into modern times, are out of tune with the surrounding atmosphere.
Time has changed, but what remains unchanged is their desolate and lonely hearts.
I have also seen a blind couple moving slowly on the overpass. One is holding a tin bowl in front of the other and the other is showing off with an erhu. On the bustling road, only they have formed a leisurely scenery, which is different from others.
Their erhu sounds sad and melodious, as if telling pedestrians that life is nothing. Why are you in such a hurry?
When I was a college student in Guangzhou, I met a one-eyed old man several times. At the gate of the hospital and in the downtown street, he stood quietly with a rope around his neck. There is a big and long piece of paper on the rope, which extends from his chest to the ground half a meter away in front of him. His tragic experience was written on the paper, which was wrapped in transparent plastic.
It turns out that the old man is a defender, handwritten on paper, and it is a complaint of rights protection.
It says that the reason why the old man lost an eye was a medical accident in a hospital in Guangzhou. He just suffered from cataract and went to the hospital for surgery. The doctor misdiagnosed him and removed his eyeball. He suffered great pain and injustice. He took the hospital to court, but lost. He complained everywhere, but he didn't succeed. Finally, he had to make a long speech and take to the streets to avenge himself, hoping to attract public attention and be fair to himself.
He stood quietly in the corner of the busy street, motionless, dull and sad, slightly hunched, and the feeling of silence made him look like a sentry. I once looked at him carefully. The one-eyed old man has a pair of glasses on his face, and his other eye seems to be ignored because of the removed eyeball. No matter who comes near him, he doesn't look or pay attention. He just stood quietly.
I don't know what the truth is. But what I see is a sad picture with a gray background.
Three thousand years ago, in his twilight years, Moses wrote this poem: Our age is seventy years old, and if we are strong, we can reach eighty years old, but all we boast about is hard work and worry, and we fly away in the blink of an eye.
Seeing these old people is really a true portrayal of hard work and worry. However, toil and trouble are not necessarily related to external fame and power, and will not change because of external conditions. This is the theme of life.
If the grassroots people at the bottom are enduring poverty and injustice, then the people at the top are enduring hunger and suffering. Those corrupt officials, who lived to retirement age, were arrested and imprisoned. Every time they confess to the camera in court, it makes people sigh. The old man's white hair used to be his glory, but now it has become a disgrace. They count their treasures all day, but they don't know what kind of road they are walking on or where they are going.
In fact, we all came to this world to suffer. The apparent happiness shown by those entertainment stars is only an illusion. We dream of real happiness, and this kind of happiness does not exist.
Life is a painful process. From the first cry, I announced the difficulty of coming into this world. Experience birth and death in the middle. No one has the power to change the outcome of death. Life is full of helplessness and powerlessness. People's value in the world is seriously underestimated and they live like ants.
There are two kinds of suffering, one is suffering for sin, and the other is suffering for righteousness. Suffering for sin is the heaviest yoke that all living beings bear. They have been under the jurisdiction of sin all their lives, with no hope, no peace and no stability. Everyone is wandering like a sheep, going their own way, wondering why, constantly working, constantly running around, constantly making money, constantly saving money, and I don't know who will collect it in the future. "When everyone is safest, it is completely false!" Where will there be real security? Wait until the moment of death, just know, originally, I came naked, naked, everything is vanity.
Suffering for righteousness is a minority right. Don't go along with this era and this world, put your limited energy and time into the process of seeking eternal truth, and practice it, guide yourself with the word of God, and be a godly person. The righteous have long been prepared to suffer, and they will suffer for righteousness all their lives. The greatest glory of Jesus followers is to be martyred for the Lord Jesus. His will to life must be completely entrusted to God, and his passion and vitality must shine. Because he knows that death is not our final outcome, on the contrary, death is just the beginning.
Please teach us to count our days, so that we can gain a wise heart. At the age of 80, Moses was called by God to lead 2 million Israelites out of Egypt. This is an extremely difficult and arduous task in people's eyes, and Moses, on his deathbed, accomplished this task brilliantly with the power of God. He couldn't help praising and sighing.
Life on the ground is really like a sigh. What do we want to catch? As a result, I couldn't catch anything, just catching shadows. A man who lives for himself can't experience the true sweetness, joy and satisfaction of life, and he can't have integrity, courage and wisdom, because everything he does is to satisfy his own selfish desires.
Among the characters recorded in the Bible, in the plain narrative of life, "life satisfaction" is probably the greatest reward for life. We can't choose when to be born, but we can choose to follow God's way and seek such a return. Because our lives are in the hands of God. To die when you are satisfied with your life, the focus is not on your life, but on your satisfaction. Only the grace of the Father can satisfy us.