On January 15, 2002, the world's leading media rushed to report a news report from Cuba:
An old fisherman named Fuentes died of illness at the age of 104.
Why does the death of a fisherman cause such a heated attention?
Because he is the prototype of Santiago, the protagonist of "The Old Man and the Sea".
In 1954, Hemingway won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his novel. The story of a simple old fisherman condenses his life philosophy.
The world is the sea, we are all ordinary old people, only through pain can grow.
As the book says:
"Life always makes us bruised, but later, those wounded places will become our strongest places."
Pain is a part of life.
Santiago, a skinny old fisherman.
He went out to sea every day to fish, and for 84 consecutive days he found nothing, so he became a well-known "unlucky egg" in the small fishing village.
For the first forty days, another boy followed him out to sea.
But later, the boy's parents, believing that the old fisherman would never again have good luck, arranged for the boy to go to another boat.
The young fisherman often sneered at the old fisherman; the old fisherman felt sorry for his situation.
In the face of the embarrassment of life, the ridicule of peers, and the incomprehension of others, Santiago did not care.
He still goes out to sea every morning to catch the first rays of the sun, confident that he will reap the rewards.
In the end, the old man caught a large fish that weighed more than 1500 pounds.
This is not by luck, nor is it accidental.
The old man, with the experience gained in countless times of suffering and the determination to never compromise, carried through opponents who were stronger than him.
In the adult world, everyone will encounter troubles and pains.
As Bi Shumin said in "The Spiritual Code":
"You can't ask to have an ocean of life without storms, because pain and suffering are part of life. An ocean without storms, it's not a sea, it's a mud pond. ”
Some people face pain and are easy to indulge in it and cannot extricate themselves; the true wise are like Santiago who accept and bravely transcend.
Some time ago, 51-year-old "writing poetry and peasant women" Han Shimei was all over the Internet.
She was an ordinary peasant woman from Henan, a victim of a feudal arranged marriage, but she was called a "pastoral poet" by netizens and appeared on the United Nations to speak.
Han Shimei's life has two turning points.
The first was when she was 19 years old, and her mother married her to a man who was lazy and gambling because of a dowry of 3,000 yuan; the second was that she began to try to write poetry.
"I don't know how hard it is to live with trees, and I don't know how tired it is to live with a wall."
After 30 years of pain and hardship, she has achieved the freedom of her soul through poetry creation; now she is ready to once again summon up the courage to sue for divorce and find the life she wants.
Han Shimei wrote in the poem, "I am no longer asleep, the waves will hold me up", obviously her heart has become stronger and stronger.
Fate is always worse than one wishes.
But it is often in countless pains, in the midst of numerous contradictions and hardships, that people mature.
Surviving the past is the desperate situation; surviving the past, there are willows and dark flowers.
Facing pain is the beginning of redeeming oneself.
In the "Left Biography", Yun: "One drum makes a gas, then declines, and three exhausts." ”
Presumably everyone has heard this sentence, but many people have ignored the latter sentence: "He exhausted my profits, so he kezhi".
"One drum, then decline, three and exhaustion" is the characteristic of human nature, but also the weakness of human nature, it is difficult to persist; and what life needs is never compromise, in order to survive until I am exhausted.
Santiago, which had not caught a single fish for 84 consecutive days, finally caught a large marlin on the 85th day.
However, the disparity in strength between the old man and the big fish is in a state of strong enemy and weak enemy.
The big fish dragged the hook and swam in the water, and the old man pulled the rope to compete with it.
From noon to night to dawn, the big fish was always unwilling to compromise, and the old fisherman became more and more frustrated.
No food, no weapons, no helpers.
The back was extremely painful from the rope, the right hand was scarred by the tight pulling of the fishing rope, and the left hand was cramping unheedly.
But the old man firmly believes that as long as he persists to the end, he will be able to subdue the big fish.
Finally, when the sun rose for the third time, the big fish was finally defeated.
Isn't the fishing process of the old man a portrayal of our real life?
Only by facing the pain head-on can we get out of the pain and finally usher in the dawn of victory.
The famous psychologist Frankl was a miracle of the 20th century.
In the book "Living the Meaning of Life", he tells the same thing as "The Old Man and the Sea" - not fishing, but facing the pain of life.
During the Nazi period, as a Jew, his family was imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps.
His parents, wife, and brother all died in the gas chambers, and only he and his sister survived.
Frankl not only transcended this purgatory-like pain, but also combined his tragic experience with scholarship to create meaning therapy.
Frankl was so passionate about life that he began to learn to fly at the age of 67 and received his driver's license a few months later.
He climbed the Alps until he was 80 years old.
Like Santiago, he believes in inner strength and is never willing to fail.
The old fisherman could be destroyed, but not defeated; the Nazis could kill Frankl, but could not make him turn his back on his moral conscience.
This spiritual strength gives them enough courage to face the pain of life.
The very painful stages of life are often a good time for "self-redemption".
The way to get through suffering is to experience it, to absorb it, to explore it.
Every painful experience will become your motivation to move forward.
All the experiences that make you miserable will fulfill you.
Wang Xiaobo said in his interpretation of "The Old Man and the Sea":
"Human beings grow in the struggle against limits. They sent the spacecraft into space, and they also used rudimentary fishing gear to catch huge marlins in the Caribbean. Those who do such incredible things are heroes, and those who never refuse or cannot exceed their limits are mediocre people. ”
The old man Santiago, is a real hero.
No matter what difficulties he encounters, he is always fighting and trying to find a way to continue fighting.
When he tied the slain marlin to the side of the boat and prepared to return, the smell of blood also attracted a wave of sharks to plunder.
The old man fought desperately until he was exhausted and the sharks were still circling his boat.
As long as he cuts the fishing rope and lets go of the big fish, he will no longer have to suffer.
Instead of eating raw unconditioned fish, he could put his blood-blurred hand cut by the fishing rope into the seawater to soak and relieve the pain.
But he still insisted on fighting, until he finally sailed into the small harbor, and only a skeleton was left of the big fish that had been bitten.
He did not despair of the loss of fish, nor did he show off his three days and three nights to others, but went to sleep as usual.
Life should be like this, even if you try your best and still get nothing, you can accept it calmly.
He challenged himself, proved himself with an unyielding attitude, and was spiritually abundant and content.
Wall Street investment god Ray Dario said in his book "Principles":
"I would experience painful moments in a very different way. Instead of feeling discouraged or out of breath, I see suffering as a reminder of nature that tells me that there is something important I need to learn. ”
Human life, like a flood rushing, does not encounter islands, reefs, it is difficult to stir up beautiful waves.
As we learn to draw strength from pain, we continue to consolidate our antifragile abilities.
Then pain will make us grow faster and become stronger.
True wise people never escape pain, but live calmly and calmly in the experience of life.
Escaping from pain will only get more and more painful; learning to face pain will make life smoother and smoother.
Every year, new students at Tsinghua University receive a book when they receive their acceptance letters.
This year, the gift of Academician Qiu Yong, the president, to the new students is "The Old Man and the Sea".
This classic has inspired generations of people and will continue to be passed on.
Hemingway tells us through this story: "A man can be destroyed, but he cannot be defeated." ”
Suffering is a part of life that tests the character and wisdom of each and every one of us.
And only those who have withstood the test can enjoy the wealth transformed from suffering.