In 2012, British playwright Rachel Joyce, after writing radio scripts for 20 years, transformed into writing ** and published her ** work "A Man's Pilgrimage".
In the same year, the ** swept dozens of countries, gained countless readers, and was shortlisted for the "Booker Literary Prize" that year.
In **, the protagonist Harold did nothing in the first half of his life, but in his twilight years, he realized the meaning of giving through a trip and finally completed self-redemption.
Every time I read this **, I always sigh with emotion: "People who don't know how to pay are really sad to live this life." ”
If a person only accepts the good of others, but never gives for others, he will inevitably lose the temperature of his life and make himself numb.
Learn to have someone in your eyes and love in your heart, so that you can improve yourself in giving.
After reading "A Man's Pilgrimage", I realized that the freedom of adults begins with knowing how to give.
Harold was an unfortunate man, and from birth to the age of sixteen, his memories were almost entirely filled with fear.
When he was very young, his mother abandoned him, and his father never cared about him, only for his own pleasure.
The lack of love made little Harold's personality extremely withdrawn, he was always alone in a daze, and he didn't even dare to play with the neighborhood children.
On his sixteenth birthday, his father threw him a coat and kicked him out of the house.
Birthday, which should have been accompanied by joy, has now become a painful anniversary, and Harold's heart is even more closed.
After leaving home, Harold got a job at the brewery as a sales representative.
He has been doing this job for forty-five years, and there has been no change.
During this long time, he was "alone", had no pursuits, and never even considered a promotion and a salary increase.
When it was time to retire, he silently withdrew, and there was no farewell party, as if he didn't know anyone.
In fact, he sometimes wonders if he would be better off if he lived in a different way
But he was too cowardly, too cold, too cowardly to ask for anything, so indifferent that he never gave his love to his family and friends.
Therefore, in the past forty-five years, he has left too many regrets.
And the most difficult thing for Harold is the suicide of his son David.
When David was growing up, Harold wanted to hug him several times and wanted to talk to him, but he always wanted to do it, and he couldn't do it.
For this reason, his wife Maureen misunderstood him and thought that he did not love his son.
In fact, Harold didn't love his son, he just couldn't express it, and he was afraid that he would care clumsily and couldn't help David.
Once, David was surfing at the beach and accidentally drowned.
He was afraid that he would not succeed in saving his son, so he simply pinned his hopes on others and worried about himself in the dark.
Later, after graduating from college, David was distressed by the fact that he couldn't find a job, and Harold was anxious about his son, but he couldn't say anything about it.
His father's neglect and anxiety about finding a job plunged David into the abyss of depression, and he finally committed suicide in depression.
The pain of losing a child made Maureen's resentment towards Harold reach its peak, and the two became speechless.
Seeing the relationship between husband and wife getting colder and colder, Harold still looked like an outsider and never comforted his wife.
He just basks in the sun every day and gets by.
There is a good saying: "Love cannot withstand indifference, and the human heart cannot withstand alienation." ”
If you don't get love, maybe it's bad luck;But if you never give love, you can only be too selfish.
Those who have suffered must be able to understand the pain of others;People who have never been loved should know how to give love.
Do not refuse to give because you have not received it.
When you stop feeling sorry for yourself and learn to understand others with your own misfortunes, you can truly become mature.
A person's greatest misfortune is knowing that life is full of regrets, but he can't make up for it.
Harold was fortunate to be in his twilight years, and his friend from twenty years ago gave him a chance to make amends.
On this day, Harold was basking in the sun with nothing to do, when he suddenly received a letter.
He couldn't figure out who the sender was, and when he read it, he realized that it was from his former friend Queenie.
In the letter, Queenie said that he had cancer and would die soon, and that he was sending this letter as a final farewell to Harold.
Before he knew it, Harold was reminded of the distant time he had spent working with Queenie.
They both worked at the same brewery, with Harold as the sales rep and Queenie as the accountant.
Once, when Queenie was ridiculed by a colleague and secretly hid behind a cabinet to cry, he happened to be bumped into by Harold, who showed rare enthusiasm and regained Queenie's confidence in his work.
The simple meeting of Pingshui made the two people who had no intersection become partners at work.
Unfortunately, the friendship didn't last long.
During that time, Harold indulged in the grief of losing Davy and spent his days drinking to drown his sorrows.
Once, he accidentally smashed a relic left by the boss's mother.
The boss was furious, but Queenie bravely stepped up and took everything for Harold, so much so that he was fired on the spot.
After her dismissal, Queenie didn't want to stay in this sad place for long, so she hurriedly left the brewery, and her grievances were buried in her heart forever.
And Harold never said a word to Queenie, not even a "thank you".
It wasn't until twenty years later, looking at the letter sent by Queenie, that Harold felt remorse and wanted to make amends.
He sighed: "How can it be enough to just reply to the letter?"”
I have been cowardly for 20 years, and this time in order to make up for the regrets of the year, I resolutely went on the road.
It took him 87 days and 627 miles to hike, and he finally reached the end of Queenie's life, turning regret into fulfillment.
Queenie closed her eyes, of course, but she was happy inside.
At this moment, Harold felt more relaxed than ever, because it was the first time he took charge of his life.
Dare to move forward, life can become better;When the heart is full of love, the soul will not be barren.
If Harold receives the letter, he simply replies to it.
Then what awaits him will be a regrettable old age, and his life will not change in any way except for the worse.
It seems that this trip is for Queenie, but in fact, he himself is the biggest beneficiary, because he has a new life.
In this life, there is always someone who is worth paying.
When you decide to move forward bravely, the world will unfold before your eyes, and life will suddenly open up.
Before this trip, the reason for Harold's indifference was actually the "victim mentality".
He can't forget his childhood wounds and firmly believes that he is the most unfortunate person, so he does not feel guilty about consuming the enthusiasm of his family and friends.
When Maureen was determined to marry him, he didn't know how to give love, but only went to the holiday camp for two weeks every year.
Maureen didn't feel anything about it, but Harold thought he had done enough.
Harold has always had to get by, but this time during the journey, he saw all kinds of sorrows and sufferings, and only then did he realize that everyone has a scripture that is difficult to read.
He saw that a woman who had lost a child, even with pain, was living with her heart;
A female doctor who was abandoned by her boyfriend, even though she occasionally complained, still generously helped others;
There are also those confused followers, even if they all have unfortunate experiences, but they are still trying to find a new direction.
A trip allowed Harold to see the faces of all beings, and in front of all beings, his pain seemed to be really nothing.
At the end of the trip, Harold was a completely different person, he became no longer indifferent, he became considerate of others, he learned to understand and be considerate.
In fact, not only Harold, but Maureen was also invisibly changed by this journey.
When Harold first left the house, Maureen's first reaction was to complain, and even wanted the hospital to forcibly arrest him on the pretext of treating him.
But Harold called her every place he went, and sent her postcards every few days to tell her that she was safe.
She felt that although Harold was not at home, he was not far away from her, so she decided to support Harold.
Also, at the beginning of her family, she was bent on becoming Harold's love, but later, Harold's incompetence always annoyed her.
But Harold didn't become incompetent when he got married.
There is also the tragedy of David, in order to escape the pain, he blames all on Harold, which is really unfair to him.
She then repented that for twenty years, she had been too tolerant of herself and too harsh on Harold.
The days are in the past, not in the past.
At the end of **, both of them opened their hearts, and accepted each other's truest appearance again as they did when they first met.
The Art of Love says, "The essence of love is to give, not to take." ”
The taker has been demanding, and he will inevitably not be able to get the life he wants;
Learn to give, don't be too selfish, and life will become easy and enjoyable.
When two people are willing to give love to each other, the initial warmth can be regenerated and the fire of life can be rekindled.
After reading Harold's story, I couldn't help but think that life is a journey for one person.
And the freedom and restraint of life all depend on your attitude towards this journey.
If you choose an indifferent attitude, you can only be like Harold in the first half of his life, at a loss, drawing the ground as a prison.
Learn to give and keep moving forward, so that you can control your life and have freedom like Harold did in the second half of his life.
What is freedom?Immanuel Kant said, "Freedom is not to do as you please, but to be self-mastered!".”
Freedom also emerges when you let go of the victim mentality, stop fighting against fate, try to live seriously, and even set out to change.
Fill regrets with pay, and measure life with footsteps.
May we all be like Harold in his twilight years, traveling through thousands of mountains, leaving no regrets, and then finding freedom in life.