[My 2020 Questionnaire] Continue to be serious next year

There are only ten days left in 2020, share an event that you didn't expect to happen this year at the beginning of the year? How has this event changed your life?

I live in a remote part of the Netherlands, I usually work from home, go to the nearest city every Friday to buy food for a week, and at most I encounter vehicles or pedestrians while walking along the canal (even walking in the cold winter. Maybe give up), apart from the neighbors, there are about five or six friends who regularly meet each other in a year. This kind of life makes it difficult for most things to happen to me. If anything this year really caught me off guard, it was the outbreak of the plague itself.

In March of this year, the epidemic in Europe suddenly got out of control. Although the control measures in the Netherlands were relatively mild, it has already caused most people to suffer. I can't feel the impact at all. It was at this point that I realized how secure my life was. Of course I'm not advocating that everyone should be as withdrawn as I am, but I believe it's important for everyone to have a peaceful mind, whether the body is moving or still. This makes sense as if one's sense of abundance comes not primarily from having more, but from needing less.

Fortunately, none of my acquaintances were poisoned, and the plague did not affect me in a direct or indirect way, but from another point of view, this amazing plague also made me understand a simple life more deeply than before. importance. I think I will continue to live such a simple life. It's like our Aboriginal belief that nothing is needed but air, water, sunlight and land. A person can stand on the ground well, this is the greatest luck.

In 2020, what gives you the deepest sense of meaning?

From January 1, 2019 until today, I read and summarize historical events and current news related to Indigenous peoples around the world every day, and share them on the original Facebook page that I run with friends. It's a self-assigned job, I don't get any income for it, and I had almost no readers at first, but it went on without interruption for two years without asking for results, without using Facebook's invite function, and not finding any friends to promote it. , we have attracted more than 2,000 followers, and a roughly constant readership receives messages on time and responds every day. How many people are happy to read the information we share is not the happiest part of the job, I think the most rewarding part of it is that we have successfully resisted the pompousness that social media has created and continued to promote, so that we can know that every Readers who receive news on time do so because they want to receive news from us, not out of sympathy or sensational headlines. Perhaps this is roughly appropriate to describe it as being at ease with loneliness . I believe that all steady and steady work must be comfortable with loneliness, and must focus on the work itself, not the attention or praise the work receives. I have done this consistently for the past two years and will continue to do so in the future.

The global epidemic is still severe, please record an epidemic event that you think is worth remembering.

This is the epidemic seen from the perspective of the indigenous people: August 17, 2020 "New York Times" obituary: Aritana Yawalapiti, an indigenous leader in the Xingu River Basin of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, died of Wuhan pneumonia on August 5 at the age of 71. He became a tribal leader at the age of 19, speaks at least four Aboriginal languages and Portuguese, and at a young age helped fight for the creation of the Xingu Aboriginal territory. "His life was successful against prospectors, loggers and pasturelanders, but he was powerless to deal with the latest intruder, the coronavirus," the obituary reads.

This summer I saw several stories in The New York Times about the deaths of indigenous leaders in the Amazon rainforest from the plague. It is the greatest fear of the indigenous world, reminiscent of the smallpox virus brought to the Americas by the Spaniards centuries ago, which wiped out the horrific past of about 90% of the indigenous population of the Americas. A similar incident happened in Taiwan, and many aboriginal tribes still have stories of the Han Chinese bringing the smallpox plague.

How has travel restrictions in 2020 changed your relationship with others/the world? Is there any person/thing that you must see/do when the epidemic is over?

As mentioned above, my life hasn't changed because of the pandemic, but I do see how many people who are feeling distressed by their restricted activities are eager to get back to a busy and active life. I have no judgments of value as to which way of life, but the realization itself has changed my relationship with others. I probably learned from this that the gap between myself and others is greater than I previously thought. But at the same time, I also understand that the gap between people is not that big.

As for my relationship with the world, I think it will never change. Just like the old man taught, we must face the land honestly, whether in our own tribe or in a foreign country. Therefore, if there is anything I have to do in the past during the epidemic, it is something I originally hoped to do at least once a year or two: go back to Taiwan, go back to the tribe, and visit the elderly . Old people are the living connection between us and the land.

Talk about a conflict you encountered in 2020 that was difficult to resolve. The conflict here is: You feel your beliefs and actions are in conflict.

This year does not seem to have encountered such a problem. This has something to do with my near-isolated life, and it may also be because I consciously try to stay away from situations that make me uncomfortable. For example, I am involved in the Aboriginal movement, but I have many Han friends. I know very well on which issues my Han friends will not stand on the Aboriginal side just because they are my friends, so I have Consciously alienate such friends. Not because I think friends should share my beliefs, but because I know I can't (and have no reasonable expectation) to stick to my ideas and be seen as good friends. Adhering to an idea has its price, and if you can't bear the price, it's not an idea.

Share a moment when you "suddenly understood what I was against."

F. Scott Fitzgerald is said to have said this: The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. I first heard this statement and thought about it After a while, I managed to make this a goal of my efforts, hoping to really understand the thoughts and emotions that came from different opinions. Of course this assignment is not always successful, but I think in most cases I can understand my objection.

How has your relationship with your body changed compared to a year ago? Do you like your current body more?

I maintain a very regular life so that I can maintain physical and mental stability. This year's physical condition is similar to last year, and the mental stability is higher than last year.

After 2020, have you found something about yourself that you cannot stop?

Doing one little thing every day is nothing in isolation, but if you do it every day, it's discipline. Maintaining discipline is something that I think must continue. But this didn't happen in 2020, after all, it's been several years since I've changed my mind and been a new person .

Please share with us your favorite song, favorite book or most memorable movie of 2020

I don't listen to music very much, and I haven't watched a movie for a long time. Although I read books every day, I can't seem to say which one is my favorite. However, I read news from Australia not long ago that this year's Prime Minister's Literary Award for fiction was awarded to an Aboriginal writer. This is the book below. It tells the story of an Aboriginal returning home to attend his grandfather's funeral, only to find that his home had been destroyed by mining. The story of the hand of the company. This is a common dilemma faced by aboriginal people all over the world, as are the aborigines in Taiwan. I ordered this book, expect to receive it soon, and recommend it to everyone.

Finally, could you please represent your 2020 with a photo.

In the Netherlands, the temperature usually doesn't drop below freezing until the end of April and the beginning of May, so I don't start my garden work until this time every year. Potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, beans, squash and eggplants were planted as usual this year. But this year is a little unusual. The flowers are blooming very well, but the fruit trees, from beans and pumpkins to apples and pears, are much worse than in previous years. Although the summer is over soon, I still prepared some small potted plants before the cool autumn, and placed them by the bathroom window facing the canal with west sun (the photo below is a photo from early September), and gave myself to take care of them through the cold winter and maintain their lives. work. The weeping willows by the canal are now completely withered and the sky is often cloudy, but the little plants are doing well, and I even picked potatoes in a pot once. 2020, good or bad, is a year that continues the cycle of the world.

Please fill in the blank: 2020, life itself matters.

This is how life is. People who have experienced the edge of life and death will say that there is no big deal except death. But most of the time we do not live in the contrast of life and death. There is an intractable balance between the two, and a good measure is probably wisdom.

Thank you for watching, and happy new year