By Huan’ge
One day, in my spare time, when I was browsing the web, I saw a cartoon “Life Is Nothing More Than a Tragedy.” There are five cups in the picture, which represent five stages of man’s life: childhood, the teenager years, youth, old age, and the later years. In the past, I often laughed at cartoons, but this one deeply touched my heart. The cups seemed to say to me: No matter how brilliant and glorious your life used to be, however, you will be incapable of escaping from the sorrow of death in declining years. No matter what everyone used to have, his life also will end with a tragedy.
Looking at the picture, I was lost in a myriad of thoughts. It reminded me of my aunt, a government senior official. Every day, people who asked her for help came in an endless stream. Moreover, the special car picked her up wherever she went. Aunt’s words carried great weight in our family and even in our city. Our entire family was proud of having such a relative. Everyone was full of praise for my aunt and said that her life didn’t live in vain. She could be said to have both fame and fortune and bring glory to the family name. I also used to believe that the life like my aunt’s was of value and significance. However, just when living a decent and enviable life, my fifty-year-old aunt was found to have late-stage breast cancer. Although then the most authoritative professor in the country carried out the operation on her, she still departed from this world half a year later with regrets and tears. All she gained during her lifetime was as transient as fleeting clouds and a flash in the pan. Although my aunt won fame and fortune in her life, in the end, she still had a tragic ending.
Looking at myself, without a brilliant career and a great gift like my aunt’s, however, I still regarded the famous sayings “being an outstanding man” and “being the best of the best” as my goal of the realization of my self-worth. After graduating from college, I worked as an ordinary kindergarten teacher, but I firmly believed that every profession produces its own leading authority. In order to realize the value of life in my work, I secretly spent several times the effort of my colleagues to work. I spent the time for lunch break helping the poor students with their lessons patiently, worked overtime to find various advanced learning materials, and tirelessly communicated with the students’ parents. With six years of my efforts, I who used to be an ordinary kindergarten teacher finally became the most popular and excellent teacher with the highest salary in our kindergarten. I finally realized my goal, being at the top of my profession. This sense of honor used to make me feel incomparably happy and content. I underhandedly set my aspirations that I must work harder in the future. But just then, some conditions arose on my body. The long-term hard work exhausted my vocal cord, resulting in my failing to speak any loud word. Every day I could only live in pain, which made me feel worn out physically and mentally. After I underwent a long period of treatment, my illness didn’t get any better. Only then did I realize that the flowers and applause couldn’t take the place of the pain caused by the illness. The flattery and high regard of people couldn’t fill the emptiness of my heart. Ultimately, for my health, I had no choice but to leave the platform which used to bring me honor. I hadn’t wanted such tragedy to accompany my whole life, but unconsciously I had lived through a half of the tragic life.
Then I thought of some famous and great people, such as the father of Apple Computer Steve Jobs, the king of pop music Michael Jackson, the famous announcer on TV broadcast Luo Jing, and so forth. These people had great fame in all industries and everyone took them as their idols. They could be said to be exceedingly wealthy and illustrious and have a glorious future. However, some died at the threshold of life; others died of sudden illnesses. The applause, flowers, reputation, and money they acquired during their lives, like a flash in the pan, were splendid but transitory. I couldn’t help but feel confused: We devote our whole lives to pursuing money and fame, why are we unable to shake off the tragedy at the final moment? I really wanted to free myself from the tragic life, but who was able to guide me on this question?
Lost in bewilderment, I found the answer in a book and I saw a passage of words in the book: “One exhausts a lifetime’s worth of energy fighting against fate, spends all of one’s time bustling about, trying to feed one’s family and shuttling back and forth between wealth and status. The things that people treasure are family, money, and fame, and they view these as the most valuable things in life. All people complain about their fates, yet still they push to the back of their minds the issues that are most imperative to examine and understand: why man is alive, how man should live, what the value and meaning of life are. They spend their entire lives, however long they may last, merely rushing about seeking fame and fortune, until their youth has fled and they have become gray and wrinkled. They live in this way until they see that fame and fortune cannot stop their slide toward senility, that money cannot fill the emptiness of the heart, that no one is exempt from the laws of birth, aging, sickness, and death, that no one can escape what fate has in store. Only when they are forced to confront life’s final juncture do they truly grasp that even if one owns vast wealth and extensive assets, even if one is privileged and of high rank, one still cannot escape death and must return to their original position: a solitary soul, with nothing to its name” (“God Himself, the Unique III”).
Trying over and over to figure out this passage, I suddenly and completely awakened. It turned out that the reason why I was so painful was because I was harmed by the satanic thoughts and views “being an outstanding man,” “bringing glory to the family name,” “being the best of the best” and “A man leaves his name behind wherever he stays, just as a goose utters its cry wherever it flies,” which made me mistakenly believe that having money and fame was the most meaningful and valuable life. In order to realize the value of life, I devoted myself to striving for it, paying much more price than my colleagues and working overtime. But in the end, I found even if I gained money and fame, what they brought to me was merely temporary happiness. They could only satisfy my material needs and vanity for a short time, letting me wear nice things and win other’s regard. But when I lived in pain and sorrow, they couldn’t bring any comfort to my heart. I thought of my aunt. She pursued money and fame in her life, had money and power, and lived with dignity. But when she met with sickness, money and fame failed to lengthen her life by a single minute. Ultimately, her life ended with a tragedy. I finally saw clearly that although having great fortune and high rank, we were still unable to be exempt from the law of birth, aging, sickness, and death. Money and fame were so fragile and vulnerable in the face of illness. Right now, it seems that pursuing money and fame isn’t a meaningful life. On the contrary, the unending pursuit of fame will make us lose the chance to know the Creator. This is the source of our tragic life.
I also read another passage in the book, “If people have a genuine understanding of God’s disposition, and can give heartfelt praise to His holiness and righteousness, then it means they truly know Him and possess the truth; only then do they live in the light. Only once a person’s view of the world and of life changes does one undergo a fundamental transformation. When one has a life goal and comports oneself according to the truth, when one submits absolutely to God and lives by His words, when one feels peaceful and illuminated to the depths of one’s soul, when one’s heart is free of darkness, and when one can live entirely free and unrestrained in God’s presence, only then does one lead a genuine human life, and only then has one become a person who possesses the truth. In addition, all the truths in your possession have come from God’s words and from God Himself. The Ruler of the entire universe and all things—God Most High—approves of you as a real person living a true human life. What could be more meaningful than God’s approval?” (“How to Know Man’s Nature”). Through enlightenment from these words, I understood: If we don’t want our life to be a tragedy, we must recognize the Creator, accept His rule and arrangements, change previous erroneous views of life, live by the word of God, and establish new life goals according to God’s words. Only in this way can we obtain true release in our hearts, stay away from Satan’s temptation, live with freedom and relief, and gain the approval of the Creator. Such life is the most valuable and meaningful.
At this moment, I thought of Job of the Bible. He was known as the greatest man in the east, was of high rank, and had great wealth. Everyone respected and thought highly of him. But he didn’t take enjoyment in these things and wasn’t entangled and controlled by fame and status. He pursued to be a man who feared God and shunned evil all his life. When God’s trials came upon him, even though he lost all his possessions and sons and daughters, he just prayed to God in silence and thanked and praised God during trials. In the end, Job stood firm witness and gained God’s approval. He became a perfect man in the eyes of God and an exemplar for the generations of Christians to emulate. Job’s deeds will live forever. This is the most valuable and honorable life.
Under God’s guidance, I found the real goal in life. I set a resolution: I am willing to relinquish previous views of life and no longer pursue money, fame, and status. I will follow Job’s example to seek God’s will in all things and pursue to be a person who fears God and shuns evil. Thank God! It was His guidance that allowed me to find a new life and farewell to the tragic life. Then I began a whole new life.
