New Year's Wish: May You Live Like a Pig, a Little More Simple and a Little More Foolish

Today is the first day of the Pig Year. We humans domesticate pigs and eat their meat, yet we show them precious little respect; when we hurl insults at someone, the worst thing to say is "you stupid pig."

Everyone wishes to be a bit smarter and sharper, and no one wants to be called a stupid pig. But today I want to give you a New Year's wish: may you live like a pig, a little more simple and a little more foolish.

My mother was a very simple, even a bit foolishly naive person.

All her life she was always getting the worst of things and was easily "taken in." It was not that she really did not know she was being taken advantage of, but that again and again she simply "couldn't bear to." Mother was always full of compassion and never lacked for deeds of relieving the distressed and aiding the needy.

Our ancestors have an old saying: "The family that accumulates goodness is sure to have abundant blessings." My own life has basically been smooth and unhurried, freer than most people's, and I have rarely truly lacked money. I always feel this is the accumulated virtue my mother laid up for me.

My mother influenced me through her words and deeds. Besides teaching me to be hardworking and frugal, she also taught me how to treat people.

Nowadays many people in society love to mouth the phrase "treat people with sincerity," but in reality few can live up to it.

My mother's whole life, by contrast, was "treating people with simplicity." She was shy, not good with words, not quite savvy in human relations, could not deliver pretty pleasantries, was slow-witted, and constantly made a fool of herself. Yet no one ever truly mocked her, because she always made the kind of sacrifices others could talk about but not bring themselves to make.

She was not a selfless person; she doted on her children and thought of herself and her own family too. But when she saw others in hardship, she always felt for them and could not help reaching out a hand.

My mother won respect through her simplicity and foolishness. Her life touched many people and earned much praise. An illiterate rural woman, she raised two sons who both went on to top universities. More importantly, her unadorned, plain, and innately kind nature kept her safe and happy most of her life.

Living to forty, I have gradually come to understand what true happiness in life is. I feel my mother's life was basically happy. Though she developed stomach cancer, it could still be counted a good death. Two days before the end she could still go out and play cards with people; she passed without too many regrets, and was loved throughout her life.

I have seen too many shrewd people, spending their lives calculating every penny, settling every social debt to the last cent, living as if every relationship were a transaction—barter for barter, feeling for feeling, spending one yuan and always expecting one or even ten yuan back.

In the end they live as everyone avoids them, without even knowing it. Or they live until they themselves loathe themselves—truly outwitted by their own cleverness.

Rather than that, it is better to learn from the pig—to be a little simpler, a little more foolish.