Lessons from a Row of Lettuce Left to Grow Freely
After a year of growing vegetables, my rusty farming skills have gradually come back a little. Because of my inexperience, each time I simply broadcast the seeds and let the vegetables in the plot grow on their own, rarely doing transplanting or thinning. So many of my vegetables did not grow well—in a common saying, they never “opened up.” The reason was none other than sowing too densely, leaving insufficient space.
This year I changed plots; the lettuce seedlings from the old plot had to be transplanted to the new one. When transplanting, I left much more spacing between plants than before. As a result, this row of lettuce grew exceptionally well, actually reaching the size of head cabbage. It seems that in the past we had merely been eating lettuce seedlings.
In the past I harvested the lettuce while it was still tiny to eat. That was a waste of the plants, took much time to wash, and the taste was not ideal either. This transplanted row grew big-leaved and tender; washing them was quick, and the flavor was full. Looking at it this way, much of the lettuce I grew over the past year was wasted. I used to buy too many seeds, always worrying I would run short; actually, if one is truly skilled at gardening, the small amount of seed I bought would have been more than enough.
Like the lettuce, the youmacai (asparagus lettuce stems), haozi gan ( Garland chrysanthemum stems) and small bok choy I grew last year were also too dense, so none of them grew well. This year I am a bit more experienced and have more time, so when I plant later I plan not to sow so densely, giving the vegetables enough space to grow.
People, like vegetables, need enough space in order to grow. Whether it is ourselves or our children, if growth space is insufficient and we are crowded tightly together, in the end none of us grows well; few become whole in body and mind.
Reading Epidemiology, I roughly know that mental illnesses have been exploding in number in recent years, and depression will by 2030 top the list of human disease expenditures. There are many explanations for this phenomenon, but in my view, excessively high population density is also a significant, non-negligible factor. Human numbers have reached seven or eight billion, unprecedented in human history. So many people living on Earth, competing in all kinds of contests—it is hard for the living environment not to become harsh.
Biological instinct dictates that once humans become numerous, disgraceful means in the struggle for survival are bound to appear. Among people, mutual squeezing and backbiting occur from time to time; many, under such living conditions, cannot bear the burden, and it is understandable that some mental breakdown occurs.
Recently a teacher at Fudan University killed the Party secretary of his school. It was a tragic event, and the tragedy refracts the survival dilemma of modern people. Many people scramble for respectable jobs; everyone hopes to live in fine clothes and bright appearance, which dooms inevitable competition for limited survival resources. Most people suffer more or less harm in this head-cracking competition. Because space is limited and too many people compete, in the end almost no one gets enough room to realize full growth. Just like the dense seedlings I sowed—prematurely aged, undersized and tasteless.
I have always been grateful to several teachers from my high school days. Back then, in today’s terms, I was a promising candidate for Tsinghua or Peking University. But my Chinese teacher did not educate me with exam-oriented schooling; instead, he broadened my horizons as much as possible, taking me through many philosophical, sociological, psychological and historical humanities works, laying a deep humanistic foundation for a science-and-engineering student like me. My homeroom teacher gave me a green light. Once he spoke with me, he said: “As long as you take the exams and do not disturb your classmates, you may arrange your own time. You need not follow the routine of attending class step by step with everyone; you may complete your studies through self-study. We trust you can do well on exams through self-study too.”
So from high school onward I enjoyed ample freedom, with far more growth space than most, and this has benefited me my whole life. Because my interests later shifted, I did not go on to become a “town exam king,” and failed to get into Tsinghua or Peking University. But that does not matter to me; my earlier exam results had already built up strong self-confidence and self-study ability. With such confidence and ability, it makes little difference which university one attends; in the end I actually chose self-study rather than routine higher education.
It seems only a small difference from others, but it fundamentally changed my life. To this day I remain a liberal. I would never kill a Party secretary, because I could never bring myself to let a Party secretary oversee me; without contact, there is no blood feud requiring killing each other. How vast are heaven and earth? If this place won’t keep me, there is always another place that will; I firmly refuse to go anywhere that will not let me grow freely. I can hardly imagine the life of scholars who spend their whole lives in some institution. To me, living with bowed head, unquestioningly obedient and insincere, would be worse than death.
I only wish to be one of that row of lettuce with ample growing room, freely spreading my leaves and roots. In raising my child I will follow the same principle: give him enough space to grow freely, and never smother his nature.