I was an ordinary man born in the remote mountains of Guizhou, born into poverty and raised in hardship.
I was clever as a boy and once the hope of the whole village. Then disaster struck, my family was torn apart, and I was left to endure endless bullying.
There was no money for a ride along the ten-kilometer mountain road. My only food for a week was chili peppers.
I went to Sichuan to study, swallowing hunger; I worked in Shenzhen, where my first love broke my heart.
My business failed, my cattle farm went under, and a car accident left me with broken bones and a ruptured spleen. I borrowed from more than fifty online lenders, and debt crushed me beneath its weight.
People said, “It’s all a matter of timing, fate, and luck.”
Only after reading The Ode to the Humble Dwelling did I understand:
The sky can change without warning, and people can meet with fortune or misfortune at any moment.
A centipede has a hundred legs, yet it cannot move as fast as a snake; a rooster has two wings, yet it cannot fly higher than a crow.
A horse may be capable of traveling a thousand miles, but without a rider it cannot go anywhere; a man may aspire to reach the heavens, but without good fortune he cannot make his way.
Though I am a common man, I refuse to accept poverty and low status!
Reading The Ode to the Ordinary Man taught me even more:
A lifetime of storms, a lifetime of cold; half a life of bitterness, half a life of hardship.
Being born ordinary was never my choice, and I will not accept in death that my fate is ruled by Heaven!
After half a lifetime of ups and downs, I found my way in the stock market. I weathered bull and bear markets, then finally defied fate and turned my life around in a bull market!
I paid off my debts, bought a car outright, went home to care for my parents, and protected my wife and children.
I am an ordinary man, yet I dare to borrow half a move from Heaven!
Even from a humble dwelling, I can rewrite my fate!
My fate is mine to decide, not Heaven’s!
