A tribute to everyone working hard for their lives

Early in the morning, you want to open the window and breathe in a breath of fresh air, just like in a TV commercial, but what you breathe in is the lingering, pungent smell of the city.

In an era like this, where else can you go? you ask yourself. There is nowhere to go. The city air is foul and the pace is so fast that you cannot settle into comfortable company with yourself; even beautiful countryside has begun to chase trends with all its might. Where should you go? From then on, you spend your days as a fashionable homebody, thinking that if you shut and lock every door and window of the house, you can completely shut out the filth of the outside world. You turn on the air conditioner and set it to the most suitable temperature for living, naively thinking: this way, there is no need to come into contact with the outside world anymore.

Of course that will not work, and you know it in your heart. Though you detest the filth of the city, you also depend on it to survive. You must step outside so that you can put the next meal into your mouth and fill the belly that has shrunk from hunger. "The air outside is too dirty!" you complain. It is filled with the smells of every kind of desire, overwhelming and suffocating, leaving you no room to breathe. You want to make yourself different from others, to give off a hint of freshness, but all you can do is buy so-called high-end perfume that is "bland if any less, and pungent and heady if any more." You loathe the worship of money and luxury that the perfume represents, and try to find the "so-called" natural fragrance. It lets you catch a slight breather amid the city's murk, but you know in your own heart: the so-called natural is all fake, and that purity remains only for us to recall from childhood. Others say your views are too absolute, but their sworn certainty betrays a sleazy lack of confidence.

Really, really, really! You understand very well. It is all because of human greed that the simplicity once available at one's fingertips now seems noble because it is rare. This is the price of the single-minded pursuit of "progress." "I destroy it, I gain enormous profits, and if I want to eat well and use good things, I just need to spend a little more money. It does not matter!" the big shots think; and we ordinary little people, apart from comparing prices at three shops, or raising our own chickens and ducks and growing our own fresh vegetables, otherwise have no choice but to end up with lives gradually wasting away, with no one else to blame.

In this era, you know, that fresh air is so hard to find. Living in the urban jungle, you want to breathe a breath of freshness, but all you get is a face full of dust. The air outside is foul; just lift the window a little, and the filthy air immediately seeps into your nasal passages. You have completely given up. In the city, there is no way fresh air can nourish your body and mind. Even in the countryside, for the sake of our intangible economic growth, factory buildings are slowly being opened……. Even though there are extremely simple towns and mountain forests where one can rest, because people thirsty for a settled soul swarm in, the quiet places have also become noisy: street vendors hawking along the roads make the air seem mercenary, giving you the illusion of suddenly being back in the city.

There is a group of people who teach me not to give up hope. They say this decadent world can still be saved. Although restoring mountains and rivers and ensuring safe food require more effort, please believe that this world is not single-mindedly chasing money.

Ha! So it turns out I still have somewhere to go.