Recently, I discussed a question in the public account: 5 million or Tsinghua admission letter, which one do you choose? The voting results are out, 70% want five million, and only 30% want Tsinghua study experience.
This is a good proof that the truth is often in the hands of a few people. For those of you who choose five million, poverty may make you short-sighted, and poverty may also limit your imagination.
I am a student of history, so of course I have to rely on history to support me. Regarding this discussion, it is necessary to mention a character in the fable - Yu Gong, whose story is familiar to all of us - Yu Gong Moves Mountains.
Foolish Old Man, as the name suggests, is an old man who is so stubborn that nine oxen cannot pull him back. Not only does he want to move the mountain, but he also wants his descendants to do it. Most likely, he has no regard for himself and his descendants. The reproductive ability of the offspring is very confident. To move the two mountains from Taihang Wangwu, Yu Gong was really arrogant at first sight, but he actually took action.
According to "smart man" Zhisou, Yugong is either mentally ill or insane. If it were him, moving would be a hundred million times easier than moving mountains. But the reason why Yu Gong was "foolish" happened to be that he was not as "smart" as Zhisou. He decided that his family's geomantic treasure land could not be moved, and the only way was to move the mountains, and even turned the mountains into the old Yu's family. Family mission.
Now we can find the inner connection between Yu Gong Yishan and this multiple-choice question. People who choose to go to Tsinghua University and give up five million seem to be a bit stubborn and stupid like Yu Gong. In Zhisou's words, "Yu Gong is SB". A person who chooses five million can be called a wise old man. Who wouldn’t want five million? How much can five million do? How much time and cost can be saved? Asking for these five million is the most practical option.
However, since it is a multiple-choice question, the other option is also very attractive. For Yugong, a farmer's son, the moment he received the admission notice from Tsinghua University was probably the most glorious moment in his life. Leaders at the county and township levels went to express their condolences in person, and eight villages from ten miles away praised him. The praise was like a torrential river. Absolutely, it was like smoke rising from the ancestral grave. Are these also tempting?
Why should I set Yu Gong to be from a lower class background? Just imagine, for those who were born in the city and have lived a relatively privileged life since childhood, the accumulation of their ancestors will make it difficult for them to be impressed by the five million. For them, they have not found a way to spend money to go to Tsinghua University. Therefore, those who choose 5 million must be mostly poor people, and those who choose Tsinghua University are not necessarily rich people. Many people value the experience of Tsinghua University.
Yu Gong embarked on the path of studying at Tsinghua University. After graduation, he stayed in the Imperial Capital and started as an ordinary white-collar worker. His wife is from the university next door. She also has no background and started as an office worker. In this way, they formed a low-profile intellectual family and began their struggle. Twenty years later, Yu Gong achieved the average grade of a Tsinghua student and became a small supervisor. His wife was also promoted. Through the efforts of the two of them, his family reached the level of a petty bourgeoisie.
This is probably the life course of a Tsinghua student with "mediocre qualifications". Most of them have not yet entered the bourgeoisie, but for people like Yu Gong who were born at the bottom, he has already crossed over. A class, he is already a property owner, although not many.
In fact, the Yu Gong who chose Tsinghua University is not the biggest beneficiary of this choice, but his descendants are. Just like the Foolish Old Man who moved the mountain, he may not benefit himself, but his descendants can now face the sea and the spring flowers bloom. The decisions made by the two Foolish Old Men are invisibly paving the way for their descendants.
In the future, the children of Yugong of Tsinghua University will climb up on his and his wife’s heads, and the grandchildren of Yugong of Tsinghua University will stand on the shoulders of Yugong and his wife. The shoulders of the son and daughter-in-law continue to climb up, just as Yu Gong said, "There are endless descendants."
Yu Gong, who went to Tsinghua University, did not stand out in his life, but he has greatly improved the success coefficient of his family.
Let’s look at a few contemporary celebrities as examples, such as the “short, tight” Gao Xiaosong. Is his success accidental? Did you know that his parents are professors at Tsinghua University? Without the excellent genes of his parents (referring only to his brain) and the steps his parents built for him, would he be able to achieve what he has today? There is also the talking Cai Kangyong. Do we need to continue talking about his background? However, going back five generations, their ancestors may have just been a poor scholar who came out of a remote mountainous area.
If success is a wall, the descendants of Yu Gong will overcome this wall sooner or later, just like moving the two mountains of Taihang Wangwu. Many things cannot be accomplished by one generation, but the truth that the predecessors planted trees for future generations to enjoy has never changed.
It took only the rest of the six generations of Qin and Fen to conquer the world. Any kind of success actually comes from accumulation, and this time span may be very long. Of course, accumulation must also have a direction. For example, the people of Qin want to unify the world, this is the direction; for example, Yu Gong wants to move the two mountains of Taihang and Wangwu, this is also the direction; the Yu Gong who chose to go to Tsinghua University will put the seeds of studying into Passing it on to future generations is also the direction.
The cleverness of these two foolish old men is that they successfully turned one person's battle into a family battle and a family tradition. For this Foolish Old Man from Tsinghua University, it will probably become his family tradition to "study and continue for generations to come". In our country, studying to become a prime minister, become a prime minister, become famous and establish a career is still the mainstream model. Therefore, the Foolish Old Man from Tsinghua University has already inherited the family tradition. The development direction has been brought into the mainstream. Following this line of thinking, sooner or later there will be a successful person in Yugong's family who can move mountains. How can the value of this success be bought with five million back then? !
Looking back, let’s take a look at Zhisou, who gave up Tsinghua University 20 years ago and took the five million in cash. Five million may allow Zhisou to live a relatively comfortable life temporarily, but it will have little impact on the prosperity of the Zhisou family. On the contrary, it may drag down future generations, leaving them with nothing to gain and no intention of making progress. Such families do not have the support of family culture and lack long-term goals. They may have a rich first and second generation, but it is difficult to cultivate a rich third generation or even a fifth generation. Being rich for only three generations is probably the best summary of Zhisou's family.
Money is actually a kind of fast-moving consumer goods. The more you have, the more you will consume. There will always be a day when it is all used up. Money will always depreciate, but good family traditions and family traditions can be passed down from generation to generation and continue to appreciate. The steps paved with money for yourself or your descendants cannot withstand wind and rain, but the tree trunks wrapped with spirit can rise higher and higher.
We often only see the money and wealth in the hands of successful people, but ignore the accumulation behind it. As a result, many people have the illusion that as long as they have money, they can roll the snowball like a dung beetle. They think that with these five million, they can be closer to success. This is simply a fantasy. What truly successful people rely on is not money at all, but personal ability and influence formed through continuous hard work over a long period of time. This hard work not only comes from individuals, but also breeds from fine family traditions.
Therefore, Yu Gong can proudly say to Zhisou: I have a Tsinghua heirloom, five million is nothing!