People grow up in this world, no matter where, what environment and conditions, they have to live. People live in addition to life. Therefore, human life is the primary task of life, and everything is for life.
In the countryside, people live for life and die for life. I have explored this view for decades. I wonder if you agree? That's what I've been thinking for decades anyway.
I have a relative in my hometown who is 68 years old now. He lived by herding sheep all his life. In the days of big groups, he was too young to do farm work, so the production team arranged for him to herd sheep for the team. He has been herding sheep for 50 years.
He married a local daughter-in-law, and his wife has been farming with him since the farm arrived at home, making a living by herding sheep and bringing home the bacon. He and his wife have two children, a son and a daughter. Two children, with outstanding achievements and excellent academic performance, were admitted to famous universities. One is a civil servant in Beijing, and the other is also a teacher in a famous university in Beijing. All the expenses of his children's schooling depend on the money earned by herding sheep.
They used to live in a densely populated village at the foot of the mountain, which was convenient for farming, but raising sheep was bad for him. So, he moved his family to the mountains and herded sheep in Shan Ye, a deep forest ten miles away from the village. They built several simple sheds and lived there for more than 30 years. Thanks to the two children studying, they ran enough mountain roads.
It turns out that he lives on the mountain, where he has to herd sheep and come to the home below to farm for a living. Now, his two children have both graduated from college and have their own homes in distant Beijing. Therefore, their financial burden is much easier. Now, the farm at home is no longer planted, and the couple only graze sheep.
They keep raising 200 goats every year, which is not so profitable, but it is two or three times stronger than other economic incomes of working in cities. Although I live in the mountains and forests, I don't see many people in a year, and I am very remote, with no roads and no electricity. Later, my son entrusted several cadres in the town to find someone to set up lighting wires and network cables, and then he could watch TV with lights on.
He told me that he and his wife had never been out of the city since childhood and had never seen the outside world at all. Both children went to college by themselves. Children's homes in Beijing, they have only seen them in mobile phone videos and photos. He said that in their lives, the far place to go is the town, and it takes about two hours to go back and forth, and they have never left their own town.
I have been herding sheep to support my family, farming for a living, and I have never done anything, let alone going to work in the city with my village neighbors. He said that he had lived in the mountains for many years and was used to this life. The children want him to go to his home in Beijing, but they don't want to go once, for fear that he is not used to life there.
He is an old man who has never walked out of the mountains in his life. Even what the outside world looks like can only be seen on TV, and he has never experienced it himself. It is wrong to say that his life is a failure and meaningless. They have trained two outstanding and famous college students. Isn't that wonderful enough for their lives? Here, I want to praise those who have lived in the mountains all their lives, seen the outside world and made contributions to society. I wish them a happy life.