Bidding Farewell to 2023 in Forgiveness and Gratitude

On the last day of the lunar year 2023, I sat in the courtyard of my old home, the warm winter sun on my body, deeply comfortable. For a Chinese person, only after today has the year 2023 truly ended.

At this moment my heart is calm and at ease. This year's work did not end too badly; in these final days of the year, I rescued two critically ill patients who were at death's door. Their families therefore did not have to spend this nation-wide festival immersed in grief. This makes me feel joyful. In middle age, I increasingly prefer being a "problem-solver" rather than a "trouble-maker."

After breakfast, I and a neighbor with whom I grew up helped each other paste up the spring couplets, just as our fathers used to do for each other when we were children. From the day I was born until now, our two families have always been neighbors and have never once fallen out. This harmonious neighborly relationship is being passed down from generation to generation. Although we all work away from home for long periods, when we return for festivals we are still as close as we were as children.

I love this kind of relationship—simple, plain, equal, friendly; everyone is generous, trusting, supportive, and helpful to one another, and the neighbors are like one big family. Having grown up in such an environment, I became a tolerant and kind adult. Although occasionally, because of my own illness or excessive work, I have inevitably overlooked a few people's requests, the great majority of the time I have treated others with kindness and been ready to help. The rural environment taught us to assume the best of people and not to dwell on others' faults.

The biggest difference from childhood is that today we bear the main responsibility. This includes responsibility for our own small family as well as for the extended family. Middle-aged people are the mainstay of society and family; if we shirk responsibility, many things will go unsolved. For us, besides reunion, the more important function of the Spring Festival is to come back and resolve many problems: houses need inspection and repair, the elderly need care, relatives in difficulty need support, and many important matters get settled in these few days.

As a youth, my dream was to change the rules by which the world operates and make it a better place. But in middle age I realized that, more important than changing the external world is changing one's own heart. If our inner world never becomes peaceful and tranquil, no matter how beautiful the world is, we cannot perceive it. To live in peace with others, to be mutually affectionate, to maintain healthy boundaries while appropriately helping the vulnerable, to redistribute one's wealth in moderation, to help struggling relatives and friends through hard times—these not only help others but also increase one's own happiness. Giving is more joyful than taking, especially when our giving helps others out of hardship.

This year I learned quite a lot more and opened the doors to more diseases. My therapeutic results for some conditions have improved compared with before, enabling me to help more people out of suffering. What made me especially happy was that, when I visited Guangdong in November 2023, I met my university classmate and learned that his younger brother, after a fever in childhood, had been left with stubborn sequelae damaging the nervous system; more than thirty years on, it still had not healed. I volunteered to help, and have now achieved unexpectedly good results.

This classmate is my closest friend; when I was struggling financially at university, he helped me greatly. I finally had a chance to repay him, expressing my gratitude through concrete action. I am also helping a friendly ALS patient control his condition, achieving some results and repaying his earlier help to me. A person is always joyful when he can repay those who have helped him.

The two sons of my father's childhood friend are also suffering terribly from stroke sequelae. My father asked me to help them free of charge, and I agreed without hesitation. On one hand, I had confidence in solving their problems; on the other, I wanted to let my father repay those who had once helped him. On the path of gratitude, we should never stop; the affection between people is priceless.

This year has passed, and all the pain and sorrow it brought are fading with time. I am very good at forgetting any harm others have done me, and I also hope that some inadvertent hurts I may have caused others will be forgiven. In life, it is hard for everything to go our way, but my greatest wish is neither to harm myself nor to harm others. Within the limits of my ability, if I can help others solve problems, I am willing to do so. For problems I cannot solve, I tell people honestly, neither forcing myself nor deceiving them.

I am willing to end this year in a calm and peaceful frame of mind and welcome the new year, and to maintain that calm state every day of the coming year. I also pray that everyone may spend every day of their life in peace. In my view, this is more meaningful than how much money one earns or how much power one grabs. If we can live this way, we can be as joyful every day as on a festival.