Our runaway life

I slept in the middle of the night, and I vaguely heard the noise of people downstairs. I woke up and saw that it was only after 2 o'clock. After calming down, I finally heard clearly, it turned out to be a nucleic acid. Fortunately no one knocked on the door. Later, the team leader of the building said that there were really a few residents in the doorway who were called downstairs to do it, but she pushed it off. "Everyone has to go to work tomorrow."

That day was July 4th. Before that, even in the two months that the city was locked down, I had never met anyone who called for nucleic acid in the middle of the night. I just heard from a friend in Xi'an that in the cold winter of January, at 1:30 in the middle of the night, I was called for nucleic acid. There were also nucleic acids for all staff at 4 o'clock. At that time, I thought it was incredible. I didn't expect that one day it almost happened to me. Talking to her friends, she sneered: "It's awesome, if residents sleep four or five hours more at night, 100,000 more people will be infected in Shanghai."

The reason I was so nervous was because another barber shop tested positive, and one of the barbers lived in Shanggang Second Village, not far from my home. Nucleic acid tests often come out late at night. Presumably out of panic, the streets immediately arranged for screening in the middle of the night. Maybe they felt that the response was quick and timely. The entrance to the new village was immediately isolated by steel plates, leaving only one opening to deliver food.

In those two days, a new wave of epidemics was making a comeback in Shanghai. On July 5th, the office building where I went to work also announced that due to "the epidemic situation continues to improve, the building has resumed the operation of shuttle buses", but when I was about to go out the next morning, the company administrator sent an emergency notice: pick up the guard at 2:00 a.m. The control department requires that the street to which the building belongs will carry out "3-day 2-check" nucleic acid screening for all employees (that is, to complete two nucleic acid tests within 3 days, at least 24 hours apart), and must hold the nucleic acid sampling record of the day before entering the building.

At that time, I had already gone out. I thought that I just had a nucleic acid test last night, and it should be fine within 24 hours, but on second thought, don’t take any chances. There must be a long queue for nucleic acid testing. So he turned back to the gate of the community and poked his throat. There was almost no one in line.

Facts have proved that, fortunately, I made an extra effort. Many colleagues were blocked from the building early that morning. Not only were there long queues, but it took half an hour to record the work, and they had to wander the streets for at least an hour.

In the afternoon, it was rumored that there was an emergency evacuation of an office building in Lujiazui. I don't know if it was a long-term event or panic, and there was a joke among people: "Take a good look at your colleagues before you get off work today, maybe you will have to wear a padded jacket next time you meet. "

Originally, I was thinking of resuming the interview plan of "Reading City", and I went to Hangzhou and Jiaxing first, but this plan had to be postponed again. Although theoretically I am still from a low-risk area, it may be a "low-risk" that the local does not want to accept.

When I was talking with my friends, I sighed and said, let's stop, it would be boring if I was locked up in Hangzhou. Think about it, how many years have I been locked in the dark prison at the bottom of the sweltering West Lake? She replied, "Is there a white lady who has been locked up for a long time?"

Although Shanghai has opened dine-in and canceled the asterisk on itinerary cards on June 29, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism also issued a notice on the same day, deciding to gradually open the city's museums, art galleries and all indoor and outdoor A-level tourism from July 1 In the scenic area, cinemas and performance venues will be gradually opened from July 8. However, within a few days, the situation has completely changed.

After more than three months, the nearby gym reopened, but on July 3 I took my child to a badminton class, but I couldn’t get in: The doorman said that the notice from the Sports Bureau required that the nucleic acid be negative within 72 hours. The result of the sampling has not come out yet, "Who knows if your result is positive?" But he didn't look at the child, he only took the temperature and let him in.

I will go again after two days. This time I have a green code within 72 hours, but this time, he will also read the child's nucleic acid code. It was also me who took it lightly and was caught off guard again. The child just passed 72 hours and could only apologize to the coach.

At first glance, the rules of the doorman are the opposite of the rules of the office building, one does not recognize the same-day sample certificate, one only recognizes the same-day sample certificate, but they all follow the same rules: do as I say, and nothing else. Anger and reasoning are useless, as long as you encounter it, you can only fight back.

This is an unforeseeable or even unwarranted risk, and sharp 180-degree turns have become the norm. On July 5, the Shanghai Shen Jianqiang Swimming Club just issued the "Opening Notice", and just over an hour later, it urgently issued a "Closing Notice".

It's no wonder that people now generally feel that you can do what you want, because you may not even have to wait until tomorrow. Suda went to the West Bund Art Museum to see Zeng Xiaolian's illustration exhibition that day. She was glad to say that she was lucky to go, but now she can't see it anymore - not only the West Bund Art Museum, but also the Yuz Art Museum will be temporarily closed from today. Notice”, the exhibition of Yoshitomo Nara in the museum was originally on display for half a year from March 5, and no one has been able to see it for most of the time.

The long-term plan has lost its meaning, and people can only adapt to the situation, just like a group of chickens, avoiding the random trampling of the soles of the giant beasts. At best, it makes people cherish every moment and what they already have, and can only live every day seriously; at worst, it destroys the spirit of delayed gratification and diligence, and makes people fall into the moment of pleasure. And short-term thinking, you can get as little as you can, "after I die, let it be flooded".

Just two or three years ago, we might not have thought this would be the case. Modernization once promised liberation and autonomy for the individual, which once led to the belief that diligence, accumulation, and development would eventually pay off, but now society is accelerating, and the pressure of that acceleration is so strong that it swept over everything, and the original beliefs have become more and more illusory.

Kenneth Gergen has vividly described the new mentality under this new social form:

Slowly, I learned to calmly let go of the desire to control everything around me. Deliberately sailing somewhere in the ocean - riding the wind and the waves to your destination - following the current and swimming without asking where is very different.

Our lives have actually gotten out of control—“out of control” means that it has become increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for contemporary people to take control of their own lives as independent individuals. Trying to control is hard work, giving up completely is passive numbness, and few people calmly go with the flow - in some people's eyes, it may even be a privilege that only a few people can enjoy.

Everyone is exhausted, and if you ask the people around you how they are doing, the most common answer is probably "one day is another day." This gives me a feeling that although people live in the present, they just want to finish the day early, but they don't know when the day will end, let alone what the so-called "future" will look like.

Therefore, a potentially growing mentality is that many people silently perfunctory things. I heard that Beijing is now planting grass instead of flowers in flower beds, which is more convenient. My friend "Indoor Pangtuo" has been living in Beijing. He said that he feels that the whole society is in a state of "not waking up":

I went to a shopping mall at 9 o'clock last night. I went to a chain restaurant to eat first. It was set to close at 9:30. When I entered at 9 o'clock, I said that I would not cook. I went to KFC to eat a hamburger. Don't sit there; in and out of elevators and subways, there is no such thing as getting off first and then getting up there; if anyone accidentally steps on someone's foot, no one will say a word of guarantee.

This invariable simplification of social interactions shows that the old Beijing, which pays attention to etiquette, has gradually lost the strength to maintain these additional ceremonies. While it's hard to say whether this means modernity or retrogression, one thing seems certain: it's not so much "disrespectful" as it is that people are expending too much energy elsewhere.

Now, we may have to admit that it is impossible to take full control of our own lives. It is necessary to recognize this, at least so that we can relieve the anxiety and shame of not being able to do it. It is important to think about what else we can do and what we want to do, because it is related to our willingness to be. what kind of person. This is an autonomous choice that we cannot take away.