Life is a gift, never take it for granted.
Please Drink Up – Li Bai in Tang Dynasty (~700AD)
- We should fully enjoy ourselves when we feel pleased,
- Let not golden chalices mirror the moon without spirits.
- There has to be a way and a purpose for a being like me,
- The riches I've spent shall one day be reacquired.
A Covid-19 pandemic has overshadowed the world for two years with no signs of ending; The extreme weather events have caused the climate change rapidly with no signs of mitigating; The current tragic war in Ukraine has seized the nerves of people around the world with no signs of ceasing-fire. Those what we have taken for granted in the past, such as healthy body, natural environment, and beloved homeland are such vulnerable to be taken away in face of external uncertainties. This undoubtedly can yield a feeling of helplessness, thus can’t help to conceive: what has happened to this world?
Although this is not the worst situation in history, and the ancestors have taught how to be brave over depressed feelings, which can be summarized into three items:
- Life is fragile, cherish it while you can.
- Since the 18th Industrial Revolution, human activities has started off dramatically in Earth, which greatly improved their confidence and make them losing the awe of themselves, nature and other peers,
- Awe of us. Be nice and gentle to our own body, the fast developing science and technology still cannot deny the fragile core of ourkind.
- Awe of nature. One earth, our earth
- Awe of other peers. Babel
- Recognize the efforts of people surrounding you and thanks for everything they do for you.
- Nobody owe you anything, you are responsible for yourself. So be nice to whoever cross your life.
- Live in the moment.
- The past can never be changed, the future has not come yet. do whatever you do to be your current moment.
<Xi Zhang, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow, Archibald Lab, Dalhousie University>
<Last updated by Xi Zhang on April 14th,2022>