Our generation, thinking about how to live “interesting”, is far less than thinking about living “meaningful”. Therefore, many things are boring.
The seventies old woman drives a sports car
I have a pair of friends in Australia. Last year, the 75-year-old husband’s Christmas gift to his 71-year-old wife was a second-hand roadster. We went to their house to cross the door, and the old lady who had been a nurse for a lifetime could not wait to open the garage and let us appreciate her tangible high-end toy. She said excitedly: “Now, grandchildren are particularly willing to come, the first thing is to let grandma take them for a ride.” Grandma wearing big sunglasses and sun hat screamed loudly and took grandchildren to the street run.
I said to the old lady: “Your husband must love you very much, you are really happy.”
The old lady snorted humorously at me, undecided. Her husband, who had been a bank manager for a lifetime and was honest, said to me a little guilty: “She wanted to own a sports car from the age of 18. After we got married, we had four children and the stock investment failed. I haven’t been able to fulfill her dream until now.”
It turned out that the old lady was a beauty when she was young, and was born in a wealthy family in London. At the age of 18, she was fascinated by this young man who had been a pilot The opposition, he ran to Africa with him, and then emigrated to Australia to live a life of tight middle class life.
I asked the old lady: “Is your life particularly interesting?” The old lady froze for a moment, then said thoughtfully: “What is the meaning? This is life. But now I find it very interesting.” Indeed Even Australians who are accustomed to mavericks find it interesting now.
After that, I saw the old couple again. The old man was diagnosed with prostate cancer the day before, and the next day, I went to see her. The old couple was drinking with a glass of wine in their hands.
My happiness I know
My neighbor is a person who makes me very interesting, he is 68 years old this year, besides loving cricket and football, building a house, carpentry, electrician, plumbing The plumbing and interior decoration are proficient, and they are proficient in painting a 400-square-meter two-storey villa by themselves.
He was a staff member of the post office before he was 35 years old. When he was young, he spent his savings to buy a piece of 50 acres of land in order to play his special skills. It took him five years to build the first house of his life. But after the house was built, his wife ran away with others, leaving him with three children. Not only that, the house also belonged to his ex-wife.
So he resigned from the post office and built a house while taking care of the children on the other half of his land. This time, he spent 8 years building a 400-square-meter villa. How does he live? By doing odd jobs for others. Neighbourhood neighbors came to him first when they lived, because his price was cheap. He has everythingAbility, but he does not have any construction license, so the fee is low. Of course, he only receives cash, so he does not need to pay taxes and earns a lot of income.
I asked him: “How many Australians do you have no formal career like young like you?” He said: “Why don’t I have a career? I am a builder, but I am not a bureaucrat. Recognized builder. However, the market and myself recognize my profession. You know, most Australians earn a house in their lifetime, but I earn two houses. Why? In addition to my efforts, I give myself Building a house without wages and taxes is not necessary, nor do you have to bear the high cost of apprenticeship and supervision. But, don’t think I take advantage of others. Although I don’t pay taxes, I haven’t received any relief. There are many people like me, we hire ourselves.
Poverty does not hinder happiness , Maybe others did not find them interesting, but at least for a moment, they might find it interesting.
I was across the north gate of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing and found a large area of old residential areas where at least thousands of households with the lowest income live in Beijing People and foreigners with the lowest income, many of them are small businesses, picking up scraps, sweeping roads, working as security guards and renting housing from these poor people. However, this does not prevent them from living interestingly.
Beijing in July is hot in the evening, and the Hutong is naturally cooler than the room where the bed can only be put down, so each family moves out the short dining table. Not only that, whoever has a good dish, the men in the neighborhood Going to a table to drink. The one carrying half a bottle of Erguotou left over from yesterday, this two bottles of beer bought from a small shop next to it, drank around a pot of white radish stewed lamb. Everyone was shirtless and smoking a cigarette , Rubbing the sweat on his body while eating, talking loudly about strange things. At this time, the passers-by who walked by their tables became curious visitors.