At any time, there is no shortage of heroes in this world. Ordinary us are always used to “sitting on the side of the road”. When heroes pass by, we blushed and applauded them vigorously. In fact, sometimes, we might as well applaud ourselves.
My mother has been weak since childhood. After my father passed away, my 33-year-old mother wiped away her tears and raised me and my younger sister on my own. The folks said that my mother was “a cat tied to a coptis tree—hard work.” My mother has endured too much hardship all her life, her body is weak, and she is especially afraid of the cold in winter. Every winter, my mother always wears two or three cotton-padded jackets and two hats. My mother is so afraid of the cold, but she can’t warm herself by the fire. Regardless of charcoal fire or electric heater, she said that as long as she gets close to it, she will feel uncomfortably hot. In winter, my mother has her own unique way of exercising and heating—insist on walking outdoors, walking three or four kilometers each in the morning and afternoon, almost regardless of wind and snow. After walking home, her body was warm and warm, and the cold couldn’t help her.
My mother is really “broken cans”, she has gone through one cold winter after another, and she is now in her eighties. Every time I overcome the severe cold in March and September and usher in the warmth of spring, my mother always smiles and says, “Look, I have defeated winter again!”
Then, the mother still wants to say, “My body is awesome!” Looking thin, thin and unusual I can’t help being moved by my strong mother. Mother was clearly praising herself for standing proudly in the wind and snow. I seem to hear, around us, bursts of applause like a voice-over.
The neighbor, Boss Ma, originally had a “general belly”. His wife Ah Ting laughed at him: “Every time I go home, people are still talking outside the door, and my stomach has already entered the house.” She is
obese and has various inconveniences in terms of basic necessities of life. After Boss Ma was distressed, he decided to lose weight. After consulting with professionals, Boss Ma decided to start with strengthening exercise and controlling diet, and vowed to let the fat fall off.
Boss Ma runs a small company with regular customers, and the business goes smoothly. Before, he used to sleep late. After the implementation of the weight loss campaign, Boss Ma got up at 5:30 every morning, washed up, and went to the park near the community to run and exercise for an hour and a half. Even if it rains, you have to walk around with an umbrella.
Boss Ma’s diet also began to change. In the past, he ate very full three meals a day. When encountering delicious meals, I can’t stop chopsticks. Now, breakfast and lunch are reduced by more than one-third; dinner does not eat staple food, only eat some fruits and vegetables. In the first week, he obviously felt hungry, and at one point he wanted to retreat: If you are fat, you will be fat, so why bother yourself? I even almost fell into the trap of “only when you are full can you lose weight”. But he finally gritted his teeth and persisted.
After half a year, Boss Ma lost 30 kg in weight, and his body was no longer bloated. Since then, being full for every meal and insisting on morning jogs every day has become the new normal of Boss Ma’s living habits. Seeing that Boss Ma was a different person than before, the neighbors were curious about the secret, so Boss Ma described his experience of being reborn vividly, and his satisfaction and pride were beyond words. Isn’t this boss Ma applauding his determination?
There is a Shaxian snack bar outside the community, steamed dumplings, duck soup, etc. are very authentic and delicious. The boss is from Sha County, Fujian Province, surnamed Li. On Sundays, I often go to this snack bar for breakfast. There is a “Xiangfu Stone Pot Fish” next to Shaxian snacks. It mainly deals in Chinese food and dinner business, and it was once very popular. Unfortunately, this store failed to stand the test and closed in the Spring Festival of 2022.
Due to the epidemic, diners are becoming scarcer day by day, and Boss Li is struggling.
After the storm comes the rainbow. With the gradual recovery of the social economy, Boss Li’s snack bar is full of diners as before.
Once, I chatted with Boss Li while eating breakfast. Boss Li said that he loved to study food when he was young, especially the snacks in his hometown. He is very glad that he did not give up the snack bar due to the impact of the epidemic. At the end, he added with a smile: “I have been like this since I was a child. I love what I do and what I do. Running Shaxian snacks can not only support my family, but also get fun from it!” Hearing this, I couldn’t help giving a thumbs up. And just now, Boss Li applauded for his perseverance in “Love what I love”.
We are all ordinary people, and we may not be able to make all-powerful achievements in our lives and create earth-shattering achievements. However, mortals have their own blessings, and every “small fortune” in life is a “heroic feat” of mortals. We should learn to applaud ourselves, cheer and cheer for ourselves. Otherwise, the applause may never ring for us.
We should learn to applaud ourselves. When the applause sounds, we can find the feeling of “self-hero”, and then open ourselves, release ourselves, and achieve ourselves.
Countless little people learn to applaud themselves, and the world will be as brilliant and exciting as a sky full of stars.
