Look, that light!
light of family affection
When I was eight months old, I contracted severe polio and my ability to move was very weak. When I was a child, when I wanted to chase my friends, I often fell heavily to the ground, my head was bruised and bleeding, and I couldn't move. My parents tried their best to treat me and spent a lot of money, but they still had little effect.
My parents love me very much. Even though my health is so bad, they never give up on me and still hope that I can have a bright future. As I got older, my parents began to worry about me going to school. However, it was extremely difficult to send me to school.
At that time, my parents worked in a "third-tier" defense factory in Yuanling, western Hunan. It’s straight to the point and the road is rough. At first, our family lived in a hilltop called Zhangjiaxi, which was relatively close to where my parents worked. But the school for the children of the factory was built on the top of "Weihu Mountain".
If you want to go to school, you first have to walk hundreds of steps down from the top of the mountain in Zhangjiaxi, then walk two kilometers along the asphalt road to Leopard Bay and then climb a mountain; the hillside is very steep, at least 30 to 40 degrees. The steep slope goes up 1,500 meters to reach the school at the top of Weihu Mountain. All in all, it's nearly twenty miles back and forth over the mountains and ridges from Zhangjiaxi's home to school in Weihushan.
In order for me to study, my parents moved their home to the place closest to the school. The so-called "closest to the school" is actually quite far away. It is located halfway up Weihu Mountain. You have to climb a 500-meter steep slope and then pass through the school's basketball court and playground to get to the classroom door.
My parents get up at five o'clock every morning to get ready, get me dressed, and after dinner, they carry me to the classroom to sit down, and then they run to Zhangjiaxi to go to work. After school at noon, he carried me home for dinner, and then sent me to school after dinner. He had to carry me back and forth four times a day.
In this way, after my parents put in a lot of hard work, I finally started attending primary school in 1982, when I was eight years old.
light of knowledge
I went to school and had so many teachers and classmates. It was so happy. I also found that many of my classmates were "top students." Some are good at singing and dancing, some can tell stories, and some are child prodigies who are said to have recognized hundreds or thousands of words and can read novels. As for me, I have been in the hospital since I was a child, and I only started to receive education at this time. I can’t even write my own name! Once during a pinyin class, the classmate next door told me that she had already learned this class and didn’t need to take it. I haven’t learned it before, so naturally I don’t know how to do it, so I have to study it seriously.
After taking classes for a period of time, I found that learning knowledge is not very difficult. All knowledge is organized according to certain rules. As long as you follow this rule to learn, remember, and think, you will soon be able to learn it. My grades improved steadily. From the initial ignorance, I finished fifth in the final exam, which surprised the teacher.
In the second semester of grade one, I did very well in an exam. My head teacher, Mr. Jiang, spent almost the entire class praising me. I was overjoyed, but I still held back my laughter because I knew that once I opened the door to emotion, my laughter would turn into tears. Since I was a child, all I have received from doctors is "serious", "no good"... and other negative information, which indeed makes me feel very sad and scared. However, today a teacher gave me a positive evaluation. I seemed to have found the meaning of life in an instant. I am so grateful to my parents. They love me so much and never give up hope in me. They worked tirelessly to send me to study. Finally I saw the light of this world.
In my second year of junior high school, I had an operation at Hengyang Air Force Hospital and missed classes for a long time. However, he still ranked first in the grade in the final exam. I began to have new ideas and felt that I already had the ability to study on my own and there was no need to go to school. So, my dad and I discussed studying at home, which would give me more time to exercise, and maybe my motor functions could be restored. Dad agreed.
In the first semester of the third year of junior high school, I didn't go to school at all. However, I still went to school in the next semester. The sun was shining in the summer and the weather was cold in the winter. Although I entered high school with good grades, I didn't want to go to school anymore and was determined to embark on the path of self-study.
▲Fan Zisheng, his family and students were photographed before giving a speech at Shaoyang Central Hospital. (On the left of the photo, Fan Zisheng’s mother, Ms. Gao Meihua; on the second left, his grandmother, Ms. Li Zhengyun; in the middle, Fan Zisheng, who is holding a cane; on the right, his father, Mr. Fan Changde. The four young people behind are graduate students of the University of South China intern at Shaoyang Central Hospital.)
light of life
Although some people jokingly call me "a scholar who knows the world without going out". I still want to say that self-study is a difficult path to take, mainly because I feel very lonely. Although, occasionally, classmates would come to see me and ask me for advice on homework problems, and I would explain it to them seriously, enthusiastically, and carefully. However, I feel more and more distant from society and people.
After leaving school, my "collectivist spirit" became extremely high. I feel that people are social and should live in groups, otherwise they will soon evaporate. In the first year of self-study, this feeling was particularly strong and made me feel uncomfortable.
After a tortuous process, I finally realized that "solitude" is also a kind of beauty. With your heart like a silent abyss, your open mind like a valley, and your single spirit shining brightly without being ignorant, you can listen to the great road of the universe. This is actually the grand realm of life.
Unconsciously, I went further and further on the road of self-study, entered a broad ideological space, and began to try various jobs.
I first wrote for radio stations and newspapers, and published many articles.
In 1996, I started practicing calligraphy. Dad's calligraphy is quite good, but what he wrote was Wei Bei, and what I wrote was Liu Tie. After half a year of writing, I was able to write tall and steep willow-style characters.
In fact, it is very difficult for me to write large characters because my spine is curved on the side and I cannot lift my hands. But I was not impatient. I leaned on the table, supported my right hand with my left hand, and concentrated on writing one stroke at a time. Because I noticed that the pen was strong, the words I wrote actually felt like a powerful pen, but in fact, the strength of my hands was much smaller than that of normal people. When writing calligraphy, I can easily enter a state of forgetfulness. I only have the meaning of the brush in my mind and don't know anything else. This feeling is wonderful.
In 1997, I subscribed to the magazine "English World" and started learning English seriously. In January 1999, my first translation was published in "English World", and thus I embarked on the road of translation again.
In August 2003, Renmin University Press published my translation: "Looking at China with Wisdom Eyes—Milton Kotler's Marketing Series", which is a marketing monograph. When translating this book, I was determined to implement the principles of "faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance", express the meaning of the original text in accurate, vivid, and beautiful Chinese, and change the common problems of translations that are dull and neither Chinese nor Western. . And sure enough I did just that. Ms. Xiong Xianju, the editor of Renmin University Press, praised my writing many times after seeing the translation.
In October of the same year, I returned to my alma mater, the Yangtze Power Machinery Factory Children's School, and gave my first public lecture. Since my speeches were very popular, many units invited me to give speeches. So far, I have given lectures at many schools such as Hunan University of Technology and Shaoyang Central Hospital, with an audience of two to three thousand people.
My speech is intellectual, covering all aspects of economy and trade, history and culture, moral cultivation, society and life; my speech is also emotional and interactive. In every speech, I arrange details for on-site questions, hoping to shorten the distance between us and communicate spiritually through on-site questions and answers. I pursue the perfect combination of intellectuality, sensibility and interactivity as possible, hoping to bring the greatest benefit to the audience. When giving a speech at Hunan Institute of Technology, a classmate said it was the best speech he had ever heard in his senior year of college.
light of faith
At that time, some people were surprised at my perseverance and deeds. They thought it was a bit incredible. In fact, I haven't done enough, I should do better. The reason why I can achieve good results is actually God's grace.
The first time I came into contact with Christian information was when I was about fourteen or fifteen years old. At that time, I saw a picture of a sun on the cover of "World Translation Magazine" and a sentence written next to it: "God said, Let there be light, and there was light." As soon as this sentence caught my eye, it stood out to me. It produced a great shock and left an everlasting impression. My body is disabled and I cannot live or move freely, so I suffer a lot. However, whenever I feel down, I feel empowered when I think of this sentence.
From this sentence, I understand the meaning of "Heaven is infinite". I often think that since God opened up the world and created everything with his incomparable brain, He must also hope that the people He created can live like Him, with an optimistic and confident attitude. Only in this way can we glorify Him.
Since last year, I started reading the Bible and have a deeper understanding and understanding of the truth of faith. As Jesus said, there will be suffering in this world, but He has overcome it.
There are many characters recorded in the Bible who all experienced hardships, but they also prevailed:
Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt. Because the Spirit of the Lord was on him, everything went smoothly for him, and he later became the prime minister of Egypt.
Job was attacked by Satan and suffered from many illnesses, but he always relied on God, so God blessed him greatly.
Although David was only a child, he killed the giant Goliath and saved Israel in crisis. Even though Saul was jealous of him and pursued him, the Spirit of the Lord was on him, enabling him to save the day and become the king of Israel. .
Even Jesus, God’s beloved Son, suffered a lot.
Jesus is the Son of God, the light of the world, through whom we can communicate with God, our heavenly Father. He preached to the world, making the blind see and the paralyzed walk; raising the dead and filling the hungry; turning water into wine and walking on the sea; making people of little faith have great faith, but the world did not want to Take the light that shines in the darkness.
Jesus also shed blood and sweat, was nailed to the cross, and his tongue was parched and clinging to the roof of his mouth, unable to speak. He cried out in pain: "O God, I surrender my soul to You." God exalted Him, made Him sit beside Him, and gave Jesus all authority in heaven and on earth.
Personally, although I had a rough life and was troubled by illness since childhood, I have never had the thought of failure or giving up. I just feel that I am very lucky because God chose me, opened my eyes, and inspired me with the Holy Spirit, so that I can believe in the true way and obtain salvation. God allowed me to experience suffering in order to polish me into something pure. The Kingdom of Heaven is a tiny mustard seed that yields a hundredfold harvest.
"Just believe and don't be afraid." With the faith that Jesus Christ gave me, I ran on the road to heaven, and my heart was filled with a constant flow of sweetness and joy.
Author profile
Fan Zisheng: Freelance writer and speaker. Published the translated and annotated "Looking at China with Intelligent Eyes: Milton Kotler's Marketing Essays", gave public speeches, and published original and translated works. He is involved in Chinese and Western culture and is good at making friends. He believes that "people are not saints and cannot achieve anything alone. Apart from being a personal teacher, it is more important to make friends." (This means that people cannot be perfect, nor can they achieve something by themselves. career, so in addition to always paying attention to the teachings of parents and teachers, you must also actively make friends to obtain support and help.)”