The middle-aged confusion of a senior engineer at Hengli Electric
Introduction: Li Gong, in his early forties, is a senior engineer at Hengli Electric. In his twenties, he came to Weihai from the moment he left school and began working in the field of motor research and development. His young heart always wants to go to big cities and make a name for himself.
Time waits for no one. In modern terms, Li Gong has transformed from a fresh meat with collagen on his face to a middle-aged 'greasy' uncle. He has now settled down in the city he once longed for, with a stable income and a familiar circle. Everything seems very satisfactory.
Perhaps it was because I was too busy with work last year and didn't come home for the Spring Festival, or maybe I found that my child and grandparents are not as close anymore, or maybe my parents don't even know what they are busy with In short, there has been a saying that keeps flashing in his mind recently: 'When your parents are here, don't travel far!' Looking back on when he walked out of campus and thought it would be better to stay away from home, Li Gong couldn't help but laugh at himself. Thinking about how his and his wife's careers are all here, they already have a fixed circle of friends, and their children are in high school. If he sets aside these, when he comes home to work and meets his parents every day, Li Gong suddenly realizes that there are fewer and fewer topics to talk about with his parents, and they don't even know what kind of job he is doing
In middle age, especially when parents are not around and we can only meet a few times a year, it is reasonable to suddenly have such thoughts one day. However, returning to real life, whether it is giving up one's current job and circle, or bringing in parents to make them give up their own life and circle, it is difficult to achieve. The former is not very realistic, while the latter is too selfish.
Confucius said, 'When parents are here, don't travel far away.' The reason why it sounds a bit unrealistic now is because people haven't fully interpreted this sentence. Confucius' original words were: 'When parents are here, don't travel far away, travel is better.'. The meaning is that when parents are alive, they should not go far away. If they want to go far away, they must have a certain place to go and not let their parents worry. This emphasizes that children should serve and respect their parents, but it does not oppose a person who has a clear goal to go out and strive!
After reading the entire sentence of Confucius, Li Gong's inner confusion also dissipated for the most part. When he was young, everyone had different choices, whether to develop in their hometown or go out. At that time, we had the right to choose, but once we made a choice, especially at Li Gong's age, it was difficult to change.
But as long as filial piety is present and we have free time to bring our parents over for a small stay, we don't have to change our living environment just to accommodate each other. Although our parents are older, they may not fully understand what an electrical engineer does, and they may not be able to help with work matters, but what does it matter?
