This society always makes people unable to see its true face. Each of us is walking in this invisible shackle, as if walking alone in an invisible cage. The outside world seems so noisy and lively, with the hawking of vendors and the laughter on the streets, as if everyone is busy and happy. However, standing in the corner of this world, we can never find a place that really belongs to us.
I often walk in the streets and alleys of this city, like a ghost that does not belong here. Those colorful neon lights have lit up countless nights, but they have also made us lose our understanding of our true faces. Every face in the crowd is obscured by the order and customs of society, and it is impossible to see their eyes and their thoughts. Everyone is running for their own lives and working hard for the standards set by others, but no one can really stop to examine the path they are taking and ask themselves why they live.
We are always chasing those goals that we have been taught, but we have never asked what these goals can bring us. The days of chasing fame and fortune are like an endless night. Day and night have long been blurred. Tired eyes are just mechanically staring ahead, waiting for the arrival of “someday”. But what is this “someday”? Can it bring us a chance to breathe as we expect?
He – the person who made me suddenly realize these things – he stood on the corner of the street, looking at this bustling city, with no anxiety in his eyes, no eagerness for quick success, as if he had seen through all these glitz. His eyes, unlike the impatient and confused eyes of most people in society, are fearless and calm, as if he is no longer a slave of this city, but a cold-eyed bystander standing high and overlooking the whole world.
“Do you understand?” I once asked him.
He turned his head and glanced at me. His eyes were cold and sharp, as if he could see through all the disguises. He didn’t answer, but just sighed softly, and then continued to look down at the tip of his shoes. There was an unspoken fatigue in his expression, which did not come from the body, but from the heart. It was a complete numbness to this society, life, and all the unchangeable realities.
“Aren’t you going to fight for it?” I asked puzzledly, feeling a little indignant in my heart. Are you just giving up? Give up fighting against this world, give up seeking those so-called goals and ideals?
He shook his head, still not looking at me, the helplessness and silence in his eyes were more powerful than words.
“What are you fighting for?” He asked softly, “What you are fighting for is just the recognition of others, the so-called value given to you by others. When you get their so-called rewards, you may feel that you have succeeded, but you don’t know that you have become a tool of this society, a tool that can be replaced at any time.”
I don’t understand, and I can’t understand. In this society, we are all struggling desperately for survival. Is this worthless? Is everything we do, after all, nothing but empty?
Seeing that I was silent for a moment, he suddenly smiled and said, “Do you think that your life is meaningful now?” His words were not malicious, but they seemed to have some kind of heavy power, which instantly made me breathless.
I was stunned. That question was like a knife, cutting through my defenses. I began to think, is it really so? I am busy every day, trying to do those seemingly “right” things, living a “successful” life in the eyes of others, but I have never stopped to think about whether I really want these, whether this is the life I want.
Life itself is a race without an end, and most of us will never have time to stop and see ourselves clearly. In this case, we may not even know why we live. We think we are fighting for our ideals, fighting for our families, and contributing to society, but in fact, we don’t know whether we are just living for the life model defined by “others”. We ourselves have long lost our voice and the right to choose.
He seemed to understand my doubts and said softly: “You can choose to stand in this corner, look at the world, look at people’s faces, and see what they are doing. Maybe you will find that all this is not important.”
His words, like a cold wind, blew away all my obsessions and thoughts. Perhaps, life is really as he said, all our efforts, all our efforts, all our struggles, are ultimately just a tiny part of this vanity. We try to keep ourselves in sync with the world, but never realize that on this lonely road, we have already drifted away from ourselves.
I stood quietly beside him, looking at the figures coming and going on the street, and suddenly realized that all our efforts and pursuits were to compete with others and to adapt to a rule that has long been set by others. We seem to have never had a real choice, and have never really asked ourselves, who is the master of this world?
As dusk fell, the lights on the street lit up one after another, and the hustle and bustle echoed over the city again. But I still stood in that deserted corner, with mixed feelings in my heart. Everyone in the crowd seems to be running for their own lives, but no one stops to see where they are standing and in which direction they are heading. Perhaps, the meaning of life is not to be found in these achievements and desires, but to find one’s own direction in that deep self-knowledge and reflection.
This city is still bustling, and it is still a place that everyone is chasing. And I am still a part of this city, looking for my own piece of silence in this never-ending world.