In the five-thousand-year history of Chinese civilization, various historical texts and anecdotes of characters can be described as vast and full of sweat and cattle, which is really difficult to count. But there are only a few that can really be universally accepted and enshrined in future generations. Among them, a passage from the Old Book of Tang and the Biography of Wei Zheng is particularly thought-provoking.
Emperor Taizong said of Liang Gongyue: "With copper as a mirror, you can wear a crown; with ancient times as a mirror, you can know the rise and fall; with people as a mirror, you can see the gains and losses." Taste the treasure of these three mirrors, with self-defense. Now Wei Zheng died, and he died in a mirror. ”
The passage quoted above must be familiar to everyone, and the meaning to be conveyed to us is also very simple and clear: taking history as a mirror and taking the sages as an example can help us avoid making wrong decisions as much as possible, avoid causing unnecessary losses, make our life path less bumpy, plant less heels, and let our careers flourish.
In fact, a person, a collective, an organization, and even a country and a nation are just a speck of dust in the vast river of history, which is really insignificant in front of the mother of time of haohao soup. However, the reason why human beings are the primates of all things and why they can stand at the top of the entire biological chain of the whole earth with a weak body is naturally great and extraordinary. In fact, everyone knows very well that the source of this greatness is that human beings have a clever brain that is different from all other known creatures, that is, they have wisdom. We do not need to study the advantages and disadvantages of biology, but only make two casual remarks on the question of human intelligence. Maybe it is a thousand miles off topic, even if the apostles increase their laughter, it does not matter, the words in the dream of the right are.
Speaking of wisdom, in fact, human beings are not born with it, and it is by no means the favor of Heaven, and God appreciates food and eats. It is that our Chinese ancestors accumulated day by day in the long years, accumulated sand into towers, accumulated water into abysses, with the spirit of perseverance, with the attitude of being highly responsible for the clan and themselves, which was able to bid farewell to the era of obscurantism, gradually discovered and touched the glory of civilization, and stepped into the threshold of the era of civilization. The hardships and hardships in between, as well as the price of time and life paid, are really worthy of my generation's gratitude and worship. Without their brave efforts, perhaps today we would still be living in trees, worried about not being able to find fruit to eat!
Here, I suddenly think of a passage on the Internet to the effect that when our ancestors embraced the glory of the civilized era, your distant ancestors still lived in trees! Although it is a joke, it is precisely because of this wisp of pride and self-confidence that is deeply rooted in our souls that gives us the courage and confidence to move towards the future.
It's a bit off-topic, but let's get back to the point. We know that walking upright is the dividing field between humans and animals. Since then, "apes have parted ways", and they are no longer called animals, but stride towards the real "man". However, the divide is not over. As the population of primitive people expanded, the competition between them became increasingly fierce and cruel. As a result, only those whose minds are relatively flexible, who are better at using natural conditions to make tools (albeit too crudely), and who constantly learn lessons (i.e., those who are relatively intelligent) survive and continue to grow, while those who are tall, powerful, but slow-headed (i.e., those who are relatively inferior in intelligence) are gradually eliminated by time and eventually turned into the dust of history. At this time, although human beings have got rid of the shackles of the jungle and left their footprints in a wider world, the iron law of the jungle law is still like a shadow.
In fact, the above-mentioned division of ethnic groups not only occurred in the early days of human history, after human beings entered the era of civilization, especially after the Industrial Revolution, the influence of human beings on nature was greatly strengthened, and this trend did not slow down, but on the contrary, it became more and more intense. At this point, the law of the jungle is not far away from us. It still lurks quietly around us and waits for the opportunity, but it is cleverly covered up by some so-called "civilized people", which helps it to cover it with a veil of warmth and veins, and carefully dressed up. After being brainwashed by some so-called "high-level civilized people", many people around us optimistically believe that the world of human unity has arrived, and that the era of civilization in which we live is no longer a genocidal event, because the biggest symbol of civilization relative to obscurantism is that humanity has gradually bid farewell to killing and destruction. Oh, if people still hold this kind of thinking now, you can only say that you are too naïve.
Although you have not witnessed it with your own eyes, you have never heard that the "westward movement" flaunted by those civilized people is the road of blood and tears of indians; and why are there only a few million Indians left now, and can only curl up in barren and desolate reservations and slowly wait for the demise of the tribe? Have you never heard of the origin of the so-called "Thanksgiving" that civilized people boast and intoxicated, and the bloody tyranny of hunting the scalps of Indians? Why did black people whose ancestors lived in Africa travel thousands of miles, cross the vast Atlantic Ocean on slave ships, and come to the Americas to serve as slaves for whites? Does anyone want to be born into slavery? Who wants to be buried in the ocean and become the food of fish and turtles?
In addition to the American continent and Oceania, this overseas prison where British colonists exiled criminals, is a paradise for criminals. The indigenous peoples, represented by the Maori, were soon slaughtered by these "civilized people" from overseas, the population was sharply reduced, and the entire ethnic group was on the verge of extinction. How can they face the human tragedy that has happened to them? Who is the initiator of all this? Why is this tragedy repeatedly staged in countries that claim to be ruled by civilized people? Why do the tentacles of those "foreigners" who have traveled far and wide stretched out, and where they will become a hell of hunger and cold, poverty and disease? If that's not enough, look at the first war of the 20th century, the Boer War, and the Nazi killing spree of Jews and Poles during World War II, where tens of millions of innocent people died...
Of course, in this era of increasing globalization, in the colonial frenzy sweeping every corner of the world, the Chinese nation is naturally not immune. From the evil opium trade, through two Opium Wars (the British launched the war on the grounds of maintaining trade freedom, looking at the present, the comparison between ancient and modern times, history is really strikingly similar), land cut reparations, until not long ago happened on our land, happened to our ancestors a series of massacres, bacterial experiments, plundering labor, enslavement education... The humiliation and suffering inflicted on the Chinese nation by the European, American and Japanese powers have never gone away. This painful memory Chinese people will never forget.
All of the above has been shamelessly put on the "barbaric, backward, and evil" ethnic groups in the name of "civilization, progress, and justice" by those "civilized people" and those who manipulate the right to speak. In this way, the ancient civilization of a thousand years has become synonymous with what they call despotism, ignorance, and darkness. Look back and judge with your heart who represents civilization and who is the barbarian who hit the door.
Perhaps, in the history of China's five-thousand-year civilization, the tragic memory of modern times is indeed just a blood-colored wave in the long river of time, and it will eventually be annihilated with the passage of time. Therefore, there are always people around me who say that history is a little girl dressed up. I can't agree with that. I have always firmly believed that people can be killed, civilization can be destroyed, and although the truth of history can be covered up and tampered with, it is ultimately difficult to be erased.
History is a mirror that reflects the dappled light and shadow of the years and illuminates our future path. The past cannot be traced back to the future. Looking back on the road ahead, there is really very little we can do, only with a fist heart immersed in our long history of civilization to draw wisdom and strength, only once again grateful for the sacrifices and struggles of our Chinese ancestors, do our best to avoid the humiliation of the past to come to this land again.
Time flies like a white colt, but we have never forgotten, and we never dare to forget. Looking forward to the journey, the teenagers are sincere and do not stop, hoping that we can also shoulder the responsibility of the times entrusted to us by this history. Worthy of the ancestors, worthy of the heavens, and those memories that cannot be forgotten.
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