Life is like a long journey
Life is like a long journey. Unknown encounters always bring surprises unexpectedly. And when a soulmate who resonates with your thoughts and soul appears, the joy of sharing the same aspirations is even more precious. Meeting is a gift bestowed by fate. It enables seemingly unrelated lives to resonate beautifully and play a symphony of soulful connection.
The encounter between Li Bai and Du Fu can be regarded as the collision of two brilliant stars in the history of literature. In the third year of the Tianbao era (744 AD), Li Bai was exiled by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang after being excluded by the powerful. With a frustrated career, his mood was inevitably depressed. In the Eastern capital Luoyang, I met Du Fu, who was eleven years younger than me. Both of them were renowned poets with remarkable talent. They hit it off immediately because of their love for poetry and prose. They traveled together to places like Liang, Song, Qi and Lu, drinking wine and composing poems, expressing their feelings freely. For Li Bai, who had just experienced setbacks in his official career, Du Fu's talent and understanding were like a beam of light shining through the gloom, reigniting his passion for life. Du Fu also learned from Li Bai the heroic poetic style and the carefree attitude towards life. This brief encounter not only dispelled Li Bai's boredom but also enriched Du Fu's poetic style, making it more diverse and rich. Li Bai's grandeur of the prosperous Tang Dynasty and Du Fu's concern for reality, upon their encounter, reflect each other, allowing later generations to appreciate a more splendid literary world. This is the extraordinary power of meeting like-minded people.
Around us, there are no shortage of stories of miracles created by encounters. There is a pair of good friends abroad who share the same dream of music. They met in a music competition. They found that they had unique insights and similar passions for music and decided to form a band. In the early stage of creation, they would often ponder over a piece of music over and over again, practicing in the rehearsal room until late at night countless times. Even when they were exhausted, they still enjoyed it because of their shared passion. When they express their inner joys, sorrows, anger and happiness through music, and when the audience cheers for their works, that indescribable sense of satisfaction and joy is precisely the driving force that keeps them going. Nowadays, they have become somewhat well-known musicians, and all of this began with that wonderful encounter and their equally persistent pursuit of music.
The surprise of meeting and the joy of sharing the same aspirations can not only contribute to the development of individuals and art, but also promote the progress of humanity. Back then, the two great thinkers, Marx and Engels, met. They were highly compatible in thought, shared the same revolutionary ideals, and joined hands to devote themselves to the cause of liberating the proletariat. Brimming with enthusiasm for society, they inspired each other and jointly created works such as the Communist Manifesto, illuminating the way forward for the proletarian revolution. If it weren't for their encounter, without the collision and integration of ideas, the grand international communist movement might not have unfolded so rapidly.
The encounter of like-minded people fills ordinary days with surprises and touching moments, and makes the journey of dreams no longer lonely. On the long journey of life, may you and I both carry a sincere heart and passion to encounter those souls that can make life brilliant. In the surprise of meeting and the joy of sharing the same aspirations, let's jointly play the splendid symphony of life.
