The book says

It may be a little risky to say a few words about "chicken soup for the soul". I stopped drinking "chicken soup for the soul" a long time ago, but I am still very grateful for them.

I

Since 213, due to my work, I have given hundreds of speeches in many schools all over the country with the theme of "Reading and Growth". At first glance, this theme sounds tall, but many times, people just talk about how good reading is. No matter schools, teachers, parents or students, what everyone actually wants to hear is how to get high marks in the college entrance examination.

They expect me to provide a more practical connection in my speech-there is an inevitable connection between reading and success in life-a nonsense logic of success. It seems that only in this way will they consider picking up an interesting book.

For the sake of speech effect, beautiful scenes and real reading promotion, it is necessary to highlight the "various benefits" of reading in this utilitarian logic and persuade everyone to read with benefits. For this, I have to prepare enough stories. Victory ultimately belongs to the person who can tell stories.

Among them, I used a story of my own, which made my speech very easy.

2 was the fifth year of my senior high school, and I was preparing for the college entrance examination. I described the situation at that time in my own article:

This is the nth time for me to prepare for the college entrance examination: the head teacher of the cram school opened the way with the slogan of chicken blood that has been used for many years, and the new students were very excited. I was a little resigned at that time, but I was always unwilling. Everything goes step by step, and time passes impatiently and slowly. My grades are not good or bad, but my condition is extremely poor.

In February this year, I bought the latest issue of Reader from the newsstand on time-the third issue in 2. This is the eighth year that I have read this magazine. This magazine, which has accompanied many people to grow up, was later called "China People's Mind Reader". At that time, it was regarded as a distribution center for "chicken soup for the soul".

Later, someone laughed at me and said that you grew up reading The Reader. I am surprised that a young man in a small town has no internet and no reading habits at home. Readers and Southern Weekend are the best reading materials besides their limited books. For a long time, my "three views" were influenced by these newspapers and magazines.

In this issue of Reader, I saw an article, the beginning of which read:

Yu Minhong is standing on the trash can.

The cold wind blew over the heads of nearly a thousand people ... He spoke loudly, or shouted loudly, repeating the words of a philosopher: "Cut a stone of hope from the mountain of despair!"

I was moved by this sentence.

By today's standards, this is an article with obvious "chicken soup" flavor, but this sentence directly hit the shell of despair in my five-year high school career. The article is about the success of the "Chinese partner" of New Oriental. It has the basic elements of "chicken soup" and tells the inspirational stories of successful people. The article contains a lot of "chicken blood clots", which makes people excited when chewing. Its article logic develops along the basic thread of humble-hard-frustration-unyielding-persistence-success. Will intentionally or unintentionally ignore the infinite hardships and helplessness in personal efforts, ignore opportunities and luck to ruthlessly play with personal life.

Try not to dwell on details, and only provide readers with content that can stir their emotions and minds.

In the era when there was no internet, I first learned that there was an English school called New Oriental in Beijing. I know the names of Yu Minhong, Wang Qiang and Xu Xiaoping, and I know their stories from obscurity to rising together with New Oriental. I also remember these words:

Goals-a moment's insight is worth a lifetime's efforts

Destiny-the future belongs to those who firmly believe in their beautiful dreams

Perseverance-nothing can replace hard work

foresight-ask yourself what you want first.

at that time, like all weak-willed people, it was difficult for me to make long-term efforts for a goal. With the help of teachers and parents, I consciously put myself in the stupid crowd, a poor student who is constantly repeating studies and wants to be admitted to the university; Goals and foresight are unfamiliar to me, perseverance is out of stock, and fate plays with them. Yes, this is my situation at that time.

I didn't want to investigate what happened at that time. Such a seemingly ordinary article suddenly made me very impulsive and struggling. I began to fantasize about goals and foresight, hoping that a so-called fate would take care of me. I chanted these words like a mantra to finish this year's college entrance examination.

Second

In September this year, after five years of high school, I was admitted to a third-rate university. Learn to surf the Internet and start reading a lot, but the Reader reads less. It seems to have completed its mission, sending a small town youth to the reading gate and then leaving.

A year and a half later, I heard a slightly noisy and ambiguous audio from a friend. It is said that it was an audio recording of an English teacher in New Oriental. If my friends don't emphasize it three times, this is the audio of a legendary New Oriental English teacher. I probably won't be able to bear to listen to it. After listening to a few more words, I actually listened a lot. His words were later sorted out and called "Lao Luo Quotations".

I told the audience that I was probably on the verge of burnout and despair, and I was dragged by this "chicken soup" article. When I was full of despair and helplessness, suddenly there was an exciting story like New Oriental in front of me. At this moment, I don't care if this article is a bowl of "chicken soup for the soul". If I were in the desert, a bowl of soup and a bowl of water would give me hope.

More importantly, reading this action will bring me changes. I met a lot of "chicken soup" in this magazine, but I also met many good books and other awesome views on the world. Many of my later readings started here. For a small town youth, this is very important. If reading has any strong impetus to life, then this can probably be regarded as an example. Reading gives people an opportunity to touch the edge of another world and be full of longing.

after more than ten years, I will keep mentioning this article and remember the name of the editor in charge of this magazine. He is now my boss. I talked to him about this article, and he still remembers the content of this article, but obviously, he doesn't understand what happened in this article.

three

I told this story to a friend. After listening to it, he cautiously expressed disapproval. He said: Your turning point in life is actually because of a cheap "chicken soup" article.

a "chicken soup" article, an inspirational story, and a full-fledged way of writing "chicken soup", but how can it be cheap? People who hate "chicken soup for the soul" and "anti-chicken soup for the soul" stand at the gate of truth, logic and rationality, and look at the "chicken soup" or even "poisoned chicken soup" that is now flooding. They will calmly and contemptuously analyze who is addicted to "chicken soup" every day, and then sigh that these people are anesthetizing and deceiving themselves with some untrue contents.

I have gone through this stage and passed adolescence. I bid farewell to "chicken soup for the soul" with disdain. Because I am too familiar with this routine, when I first met a life mentor like Yu Dan, there was natural resistance. After starting to read the whole book, from one book to a complicated world, we can naturally know the entanglement of life and the complexity of human nature.

I told my students that starting from the primary school textbooks, everyone is reading some "abstracts", which is the same as reading a magazine. If you keep reading like this and never touch the whole book, you will never understand a complete person and a complete world. You can't try to understand a person's life from an article of thousands of words.

I also tried to tell my students what the real world is like. You can't soak in a bowl of seemingly simple and warm "chicken soup" and dream of the glory of life. You should have the courage to face cruelty. However, every time I exhort you so earnestly, I always feel guilty, because I was fifteen or sixteen years old, and at that time, what we lacked most was courage and patience.

A hero who has carried a big storm, under the eaves of a farmer on a snowy night, will fall apart just because he hears the farmer and his wife talking about firewood and porridge tomorrow.

Let's go back to Luo Yonghao, an English teacher in New Oriental who I know from the article "Chicken Soup". He talked about an experience in his speech. After wandering the Jianghu for many years, he vowed to learn English well and become a teacher in New Oriental for an annual salary of 5, yuan. He shut himself in a cubicle, reciting words and doing exam questions. In addition to English books, I bought a lot of inspirational stories of "chicken soup for the soul".

This kind of story, written by Jack canfield, a down-and-out Harvard graduate, has penetrated into every gap in our society since 198s, and we can't get rid of it. Luo Yonghao said that memorizing words and doing problems every day is cruel and even inhuman. Every time he really can't persist, a few words and stories will always jump out of the pile of chicken soup for the soul, which will make him full of chicken blood and continue to work hard.

This is the real reality. A fat man who shouted "A tough life needs no explanation" was drugged by "chicken soup" and lured by money, and abruptly turned a molecule from a speculator into a gold medal teacher in New Oriental. In those days, he was already an old Jianghu. In the face of life crisis, he resolutely picked up a bowl of chicken soup.

With Lao Luo's character, he won't thank these "chicken soup" afterwards. This is probably a very reliable attitude towards life: admit that you are weak and need to be stimulated and anesthetized when you are weak. This is the true human nature.

Compared with Luo Yonghao, although I admire those people who can survive in a cruel world firmly without "chicken soup", I appreciate Lao Luo's attitude more. When it hurts, all the people who can resist scraping bones and healing are great gods, but I absolutely respect ordinary people who need a little anesthetic to carry them through.

Come to think of it, I really need to thank those "chicken soup for the soul" that comforted and inspired me when I was still very short-tempered. This is a normal state of mind of ordinary people. If they feel pain, they will find medicine and get over it. They can't take medicine as food. After all, there are so many books to read that everyone's soul can give us unlimited imagination and shock.

Two days ago, someone spoke to me about the "chicken soup for the soul" like Reader, and so on. I told him with disdain, how long has it been since you read this magazine? We don't serve chicken soup for the soul much longer.