石茜英 河北师范大学
I’ll never forget the adventure I had when I was 6 years old. Together with my family, I went to the mountains that day, a wild and unexploited mountain. Everything went well. We were talking, laughing and marveling at every surprise when suddenly I was attracted by the chirping of a grasshopper. And that chirping lured me away. I listened carefully, explored the bushes, and deadened the sound of my footsteps. Ha, I got it! But not until that moment did I realize that nobody was there! And I couldn’t find the way out. I was lost! You can imagine how fearful that was for a 6 –year-old little girl. Of course, they found me at last, or I wouldn’t have been here. But that adventure taught me a lesson--- Follow others, or you’ll be lost!
Since then, I’m always trying to act it out. When everybody burned the night oil for the college entrance examination, I did. When everybody cracked their brains to go to those top-tier cities, I did, I even laughed at those who did not because they seemed to me unambitious and lost in this competitive age!
However, as I hurry along, I notice some “go-astrayers” winking at me happily. Some retreat from the bustling big cities and lead a peaceful life, simple but admired in their hearts. Some give up the college and run their own businesses with passion and ingenuity. And some have already waved the victory flag at the top of the mountain: look at IT tycoon Bill Gates, who dropped Harvard to play with his software, and the US talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, who refused to change her emotional and spontaneous style and went her own way.
Unknowingly, I slow down my pace, look back and forth, at flocks of people who I follow and who follows me, “Where am I going ahead? Is the road we’re winding our days through the one we really want?”
When expressions like “should do” “have to” stand out in our dictionaries and “would like to” and “choose to” disappear into the thin air, we seem to have given up what we should cherish the most. And we are lost in our inner-self.
Maybe the lesson I learnt at 6 is wrong.
Following others may secure your path, but you’ll never enjoy the attractive chirping of the grasshopper and the excitement of catching it. No matter how good a follower is, he can never be a trailblazer. Trailblazer never walks an easy path, but he knows the meaning of every step forward. He knows his life philosophy: happiness should never yield to unbearable pressure, passion should never yield to monotonous routines and dreams should never yield to the harsh reality. This is their weapon to fight against pressure.
Pursuing their dreams, trailblazers read Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem aloud, “Live not for battles won. Live not for the-end-of-the-song. Live in the along.” Live along, because this is where dream lies; and hold fast to our dreams, since they are what we live for.
Under pressure, everyone wants to succeed by following suit. But we can never afford ignoring the whisper of our hearts.
Now, let me share with you the lesson I learn at the age of 20, that is---follow your heart, and you’ll never get lost!
