1.
After the internship of senior year, the house rented in Beijing has not expired. I always felt that it was too wasteful to spend all my spare time in such a few square meters of space, so I thought about finding a good place to meditate. When I was visiting the same city, I happened to see that the National Library was going to hold a reading lecture. I decided to go there in the spirit of joining in the fun.
At that time, it was March in the north, winter was not over yet, spring was lazy, and the outdoor temperature was very unlovable, which made people walk around street corners and alleys in a hurry. I think all the people who come to the lecture should be young people. I didn't expect the readers who accompanied me all the way were old people with gray hair. Each of them carried a bag with a book on his back, and there was no panic in the wind. They walked slowly but calmly.
Besides them, many young students and middle-aged people dressed in different styles can be seen in the venue. Everyone gathered together because of their love of reading, making this space peaceful and warm in this cold spring.
Since then, the national map has become a small base for me in that huge city. A few books on a desk helped me isolate the complicated noise and traffic in this impetuous city.
Watching all kinds of people go in and out and read freely in the public space of the library, I suddenly feel that books are really an absolutely fair existence for all, and everyone can get spiritual satisfaction and comfort from their favorite books, regardless of occupation, gender or origin.
At that time, quiet and dedicated children and adults who bowed their heads and walked slowly could always be seen in the national map. They are either leaning on the bookshelf or sitting in the corner, reading with books, immersed in their own time, smiling occasionally on their faces, as if they have found a confidant and read the truth in the book, calm and satisfied.
One of them is an old man, who is over eighty years old. He comes to the library every day and sits for a whole day. He takes a pen and paper with him, and takes notes while reading, which is very serious.
"When I was young, I didn't understand too many things and didn't have time to study. Now I have time to read more books. If I can understand a thing or two, I will have no regrets when I die. " In the past, when I was at school, I often saw "listening early and dying late", which was difficult to understand. When listening to the old man say these words, I think I can understand the true meaning of Confucius.
2.
Seeing such a news has warmed my heart for a long time. It is said that Hangzhou Library will never stop scavengers from entering the library to study, and every scavenger who comes to study will consciously wash his hands before reading.
A library can accept everyone with an open mind, which shows equal care for all people and respect for knowledge, while scavengers are willing to seek books in a tired life, pointing to the thickness of the soul itself and the pursuit of transcending internal material. Perhaps for them, reading is neither utilitarian nor idealistic.
There is a saying in Hugo's Les Miserables that I like very much. Storytelling is a tool to cultivate the soul. In my opinion, a person's soul is what he really exists in this world. Books nourish and inhabit every soul who travels around the world.
For a long time, every time I went to a city, the first thing I looked for was the bookstore and library in the city, and I always felt that there was the soul of the city there. In those few years in Hangzhou, my favorite thing to do was to visit small literary bookstores with my friends in my spare time. The secret space hidden in the depths of floating cities has become the most precious secret outside the impetuous life.
Among her friends, Ding Ding is the one who loves reading, because she always feels that she read too little when she was young, so now she is trying to create various reading conveniences for herself, such as attending a book club in the same city, learning about various book lists, opening a kindle and taking it with her every day.
For a long time, the first thing she said when she saw me was "What book have you read recently?" I haven't read many books, so I always feel embarrassed to see her.
On my birthday, the gift she gave me was a book. A set of rare books of the brief history of the world in the British Museum has excited me for a long time. I still remember what she said when she gave the book, "When you finish reading this book, you can go to the British Museum in the future, and you can point to the collection while watching the exhibition and say, Ah, I have read this book before, and that feeling must be great!" Well, I think that must be great!
"The book is as sentimental as ever, and every blind date is a mixture of sadness and joy in the morning." After a long time, running around the library and rental house every day is still very satisfying. Such a pure and dedicated time immersed in reading is particularly extravagant in such a busy city life. We are surrounded by all kinds of information and words, which drag us into this huge fragmentation era, but they can't piece together a quiet soul for us.
I think the most beautiful habitat of the soul must be in the book, that is, "reading poems and words, enjoying leisure", "overlooking the flowing water, talking about life", "floating in the business sea, the legendary swordsman" and "quietly meditating outside the world of mortals". These books may not increase our wealth, but they may delight our spirits or destroy us.
Perhaps, for the soul itself, it doesn't need too much material blessing, it is too light, and only reading can light it up.