Wen | Li Beichen
Don't do even the smallest cruelty for fun.
There is a kind of novel, as long as you have read it when you are young, it will become a beacon, the nails will lie in the depths of your soul, and once you grow up to do evil, even the weakest evil, it will illuminate the evil with a strong light, and then say lightly: "Look at the way you are now." ”
For me, To Kill a Mockingbird is one of those novels. There's a saying in it that I even want to engrave on the back of the tombstone: "Tomorrow when you pass them, hold your head high, greet them, and be a gentleman."
Mr. Finch was a white lawyer in the American South in the 1930s, who insisted on defending black people and whose family was threatened.
Once he bought shotguns for the children and said, "You can fight the birds as you please, but remember that killing robins is a sin because they don't destroy the crops, they don't make nests in corn silos, they don't do anything bad, they just hum beautiful music for people to enjoy."
Mr. Finch is my beacon.
I now feel that the ultimate result of civilization is personality. On the male side, the highest standard of Chinese is called "gentleman", and the West is called "gentleman", in addition to the latter, it also includes a certain romantic spirit, which is actually the same thing, all about what kind of price a man has to pay because he wants to be respected as "sir" or "gentleman".
At what cost?
Year after year, the values of the world are constantly reordered in my mind, but two things always come out on top: justice and bravery.
"Scout, don't call it 'nigger,' that's a derogatory name."
"In school, everyone calls it that."
"From now on, subtract one good from everyone... There is only one kind of person in the world, and that is man. ”
This is about justice.
"I want you to see what true bravery is, and not to mistakenly think that a person with a gun in hand is bravery." Bravery is when you know you're going to lose before you even start, but you still have to do it and stick to it anyway. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. ”
This is about bravery.
These are mr. Finch's exact words.
So I think that the life that has not read this book will be very different from the life after reading it. If you are a parent and want your children to be more nurtured than you, then this book is a better illustration of what parenting is than the clichés you say yourself.
It can let your children know that although the world is impermanent, justice is never vain, and the world will always leave a narrow door for the righteous and brave, and the golden light on the other side of the door is not money, but something more dazzling than money, such as being sincerely honored by others as "sir" or "gentleman".
Believe me, if your child is 13-18 years old, let him read this book and "nail" the image of Mr. Finch in his heart. The Motion Picture Association of America once voted "100 Screen Heroes", and the number one was Finch lawyer starring Gregory Pike, who was much cooler than the superheroes flying in the sky.
I was particularly afraid of being a parent, but with "To Kill a Mockingbird" in my hand, I was less panicked and more confident about whose father I would be in the future.
It let me know that even though "sometimes I feel like I'm a failure as a parent, I'm all they have." Before Jem looked up at anyone, the first thing he looked up to was me, and I wanted to live with integrity so that I could face him calmly. ”
And one of the elegant little things that is open to the world is not to do even the smallest cruel thing for fun.
Because doing that would be tantamount to killing a mockingbird.
（End）
Harper Lee, the author of the book, said: "In a bustling society rich in laptops, iPods and ideas like empty houses, I am still moving slowly with my books." ”
Eleven is coming, instead of "walking in a slow footstep" in the scenic spots, it is better to read more books at home, friends, happy holidays.
Author: Li Beichen, independent contributor. WeChat public account of the same name: Li Beichen