From "so close to the end of the world" to "so close to the end of the world"
——Changes in communication and transportation and changes in family and friendship in ancient and modern times
Zou Yang
When ancient ministers got old, they would write to the emperor to "beg for bones", that is, to return to their hometown for retirement. If the emperor approves, then one can return to one's roots and live a long life; if the emperor disapproves, then the official may have to bury his bones in a foreign land. In ancient times, wanderers could not return home due to inconvenient transportation, so some people gave up their family and hometown feelings for the sake of their official career; some people stayed away from their official career to care about their family and hometown feelings. When the ancients traveled far away, they had both the admonition "Don't travel far when your parents are around" and the admonition "a good man aims to be everywhere"; when the ancients stayed away from home, they had both the traditional psychology of "returning to their roots after falling leaves" and the admonition "there are green hills everywhere in life". lofty words.
Time flies by in a blink of an eye. The chants of those wanderers and the sentiments of resentful women have become pages of dried history, like yellowed paintings that have been beaten to the distant end by the waves of the long river of history. We no longer have to face the dilemma of “going global”. It has become fashionable to leave your hometown, go abroad, and go global. A "Global Communication" allows you to contact your loved ones effortlessly from any corner of the world. Even in dangerous battlefields, military satellites can easily deliver your safety news to your loved ones.
However, when we look at the development and changes of ancient and modern times from the perspective of family and friendship, we cannot help but sigh that "people's hearts are not as old as they used to be". The ancients had the innocent sentiment that "there are close friends in the sea, and we are as close to each other as far as the end of the world." They also had the open-minded optimism of "Don't worry about having no friends in the road ahead, and no one in the world will know you." When you talk about those eternal masterpieces that miss family ties and are still sad for the pain that has been buried in the dust of history for hundreds or even thousands of years, can you say that the ancients were unfortunate? Although they are far away from the end of the world, But each other's hearts are close at hand. If life is like this, what else can a husband ask for?
Looking at reality, modern people's transportation and communication can make the "end of the world" become "so close", but the distance in the heart is more difficult to overcome than the actual distance in space. The younger generation accepts values ??that are completely different from those of their parents and ancestors, and their desires and pursuits are often not understood by their elders. From a macro perspective, the impact of the individualistic value system on the traditional Confucian value system almost affects all aspects of social life. In a society with different moral standards, people will inevitably become confused, depressed, and irritable. This kind of mentality is reluctant to talk to others because it is difficult for others to share the burden. Ideological barriers bring obstacles to family communication. According to the newspaper, isn’t there a girl from Beijing who sleeps with ancient corpses and dances with the wind and sand on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, claiming to have found her soul’s destination, but she doesn’t have a warm home when she returns to Beijing, where she was born and raised? No. Are there many people holding the phone late at night but not knowing which number can be dialed? This is the tragedy of modern people and the tragedy of modern society.
Since the "goodbye of man and ape", human beings, as the primates of all things, have not only conquered the natural world with their own wisdom, but also made human society continue to move forward. Humanity is always moving forward, and the achievements of modern society are beyond the imagination of the ancients. Our advanced technology has changed people's material lives, but we must also transform social relationships to solve people's spiritual crises and realize a truly beautiful future for mankind.
In an era of backward technology, people feel as if the world is far away. In today's world, it is as far away as the end of the world, but people feel as if it is just a stone's throw away. Spatial distance seems to have shortened due to the advancement of technology, but what has happened to people's emotional distance? As technology advances, should we also care about the distance between hearts? This training question highlights that in a society with advanced technology, Due to the increasingly fierce competition, the accelerating pace of life, and the reality of increasing indifference between people.