Youth

I remembered that few days ago I read a nice passage, which quoted a remarkable saying by an anonymous author," Youth is not a time of life; it's a state of mind; it's not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it's a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it's the freshness of the deep springs of life.” What this passage said has drawn a lot of my attentions and has made me ponder over it.

Youth as we are, sometimes we do not do what the youth are encouraged to do. We have spent too many times on playing computer games, watching movies or boring TV programmes such as Prison Break or something and focusing attention on the so-called gossips through the Internet. We become slothful, and numb. We are gradually deprived of innovations, and enthusiasm to the world filled with wonder. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

This reminds me of a great Chinese scientist, Yuan Longping, the father of the crossbreed paddy, who took off when he was not young already. Years may wrinkle his skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles his soul to find a way to solve the most concerning problem of the contemporary society, that is, the issue involving the lack of food in many countries, whose citizens are afflicted with starvation. Even in today, he still dedicates himself to his career and keeps a vigorous and healthy state of mind. You can not say he is old, though he is more than 70. Nor does he admit it. Why? Because he still holds the spirit of imagination.

I do not mean that somebody in our group or in the 17th batch SM3 lacks the quality of being a youth. However, there still a multitude of young people who are although physically young, their mental conditions have become old. Life is only once, inevitable to all of us, which we can not control when it comes to an end, however, we can make it as colorful as possible. What should we do is, from my perspective, quite simple. So long as your heart receives message of hope, courage, beauty and power from human beings and from the infinite, so long are you young, and so long are you living a happy life.