PS：本文系柴静体在英文写作中的首次尝试。
“When minds are at war with hearts,
And light is at war with dark,
This is where glory dwells.”
—Arian Foster
For a long time, an idea has always been hovering in my mind, which stimulates my interests, inspires my innovations, and encourages my advances. That is to live beyond daily life which is my motto to follow.
In retrospect of the past years of my college life, three situations appears in my mind, which, I think, exactly show three cross sections of my processes to follow the motto.
In an evening of September, 2014, I and my team were busy with the last preparation for a great event we had expected for long, an Information session of our club. With final check on materials, final model of speech, and final arrangement of shows, we pretended to be methodical, but we all perceived the nervous atmospheres everywhere. After all, it was really the first time for us, and for our club to hold such a session in public. The time came. Confident, disciplined and well-prepared as we tried to be on the stage facing the thousands of eyes and ears, what was unfortunate coming to us punctured our serious pretendence that the equipment broke down. “…Now, as you can see, emergency management like this is our daily task. It’s really unpredictable but also challenging for me, and my team…”said I to the audience. During my impromptu speech, my partners just fixed the equipment and therefore we were capable to formally start the session.
“We are a liberal unity by the liberal youth, of the liberal youth, and for the liberal youth welcoming you!” The last words of the session vanished into thin air, but the experiences of problem-solving and emergency management under teamwork would never be forgotten.
In an afternoon of November, 2014, several officials of China United Nations Association and hundreds of participants from tens of universities as delegates participating into the model United Nations conference were seated in a hall and waited for a summary speech. Several minutes later, they would be surprised by an innovative presentation by us. That presentation was filled with a lot of statistical charts, flow diagrams, road maps, logic maps, thinking mode maps etc. Therefor, we could convincingly present our outcome of discussions and lived up to our model roles. However, the innovation, in my opinion, was really a little attempt just for effectively explaining ideas and successfully promoting cooperation which had been widely applied in many other fields. Nobody did it in Model United Nations conferences before, so we did it. After a fierce discussion and a tiring staying up, we made it and presented it. Applause and compliments came with honors which marked a milestone of our experiences.
“Change the unchangeable to make some differences.” The honors would be dusted, but the qualities and spirits of innovation and initiative from the experiences would not be.
In a morning of March, 2015, a great man's lifetime came to me through his biography. He is Alexander Alexandrovich Lyubishchev, an encyclopedic scholar of the Soviet Union. Unlike other famous scholars, he attracts my attention and respects not for his masterpieces, but for his methods of time management. Since he was demobilized at 26, he started his pure scientific researches with a great and clear academic goal. Meanwhile, a method of time management called Time-event log was invented and applied by him, which he persisted for 56 years to death. Through his well organized time management, he made great contributions and lived a fulfilling life. His experiences stimulated my mind a lot with the ideas of managing time and introspection of my past time. I asked myself, how should I live my lifetime, how should I use my time to do something, and what goals should I entrust to my life? And it’s said that many people die with their music still in them. When I read his life, I asked myself, what songs were in myself on earth, what songs were still unsung in myself, and did I notice it?
“The property we really have in our lifetime is not money, estates, cars, shares or any other materials, but time only.” Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future. Only time can explain thoroughly human’s efforts and dreams.
Allan D. Bloom used to talk about the closing of the American mind. And today, when we trap ourselves into trivia, frequently interactive social medias, we, especially we youth, are also closing our minds even in rising china with vibrancy and prosperity.
Live beyond daily life where minds are at war with hearts, and light is at war with dark and where glory dwells.
