Drink It, The Witch’s Soup (Part 1)

Why My Persistence Is Not My Hope

“Once upon a time, there was a magic soup that poisoned the entire world, which once you drink the soup you will overturn your mind, literally, the black becomes the white, the beauty becomes the ugly, the right becomes the wrong etc. The entire world was inverted, everyone had a chaotic mind, they were so confused and mad. Fortunately, you haven’t yet drunk the soup, you are the only sober one, but will you drink the soup?” — Inspired by a topic from the TV program “I Can I BB.”

I shared this with my friends on the Instagram story, nevertheless in my posted pool, 100% of people choose not to drink the soup. This noon I asked the same question to another friend, to my surprise she had decided to drink the soup without hesitation.

I have been having a hard time to choose to drink it or not because as I understand the topic, in essence, it is asking shall we be following with other; shall be blended ourselves into groups. I felt that the context sounds very realistic, because in reality (like it or not), it is almost inevitability we have to give up on being ourselves on many occasions. Do the thing we don’t like to do, that’s why these sayings “I finally became the one I hate about,” “I am wearing a mask every day” are thought-provoking.

Of the journey that I am growing up, in my mom’s words, I am indifferent. I am indifferent to many things and people, and I am always an outsider of groups. Once she wrote me a letter that asking me to hang out with more often others and make more friends. I knew she was for my good, but I was so alike to a lonely planet, a 52 Hertz whale that sings a song like no other. Back to the situation, I was (I still am) in the edge of shall I drink the soup.

“No, no” a voice raises from my inside, from all the books, readings, encounters, experiences that I had， which all bred me to an independently minded person, then I’d say no. And I believe many of people if you say no, you may have the same stands like me. When the others are drunk, I need to stay sober; when the outside is in chaos, I shall maintain my order; when others are aimlessly grouping, I have to stand for my dignity.

“But but,” another voice also said, and it continues: “Yes Johnny, drink it!”

Here comes the why…

The given context says that the world is overturned, everyone is also changed, for the only me who have left, I’d feel lonely. Because no one understands me anymore, just like I don’t understand others. What I see is me who was isolated in the still existing world; what others see was there a strange one who can’t be with them. Maybe the loneliness is not coming instantly. However, it is not others that obliterate our mind; it’s the time. Over time, I would have to fight against self-questioning, depression, and so on.

The first reason for drinking the soup may seem weak and somewhat ridiculous, but let’s also have a look at the other aspect of the topic. And that is (in essence,)

“Why not learn to give up on the obstinate mindset and accept some new lights.”

When I was in middle school, our class master teacher often says:

”Accept what you can’t change, change what you don’t accept.”

Sounds a bit twisted, but it does make senses in this topic. What if the world is not poisoned but “poisoned.” As long as we switch a position, change a perspective, a lot of things could be perceived in a much different way. I am not saying it is always better, but anyway more possibilities. One of my life mottoes is “Keep learning.” Then, to drink it or not is all about shall I change my current mindset. Think further; the world is overturned, the black becomes the white, the beauty becomes the ugly… But concepts are relative to each other, who says what black and white are, who says what beauty and ugly are, and who can assert what’s right and wrong. Don’t be constrained in the static norms, I’d drink it to see how I can learn from another perspective.

To go a bit further, I am afraid to say that in the current time, the time often weed out those who are “diehard,” and especially, in this ever-changing world, the process is even faster. Sometimes it is not about shall I follow the trend rather how I can catch up the trend on time. I forgot where I saw a statistic that says for 2 / 3 years should we update new skills for our career, but I found this,

“…While 35% of the skills demanded for jobs across industries will change by 2020, at least 1 in 4 workers in OECD countries is already reporting a skills mismatch with regards to the skills demanded by their current jobs. — Accelerating Workforce Reskilling for the Fourth Industrial Revolution”

And

“…the half-life of a job skill is about five years; meaning that every five years, that skill is about half as valuable as it was before. — Skill, re-skill and re-skill again. How to keep up with the future of work ”

(A bit too far from what I am writing a funny topic.) But let’s still be serious, I said that for I am not drinking the soup was that I should keep myself sober — in the way which I should hold my conviction of being myself, my dignity, my moral compass, my uniqueness. But to be remindful,

“An independently minded person is never a person who persists in wilfully and arbitrarily.”

One last words, we must have a lot of obstacles we can’t cross, a lot of problems we can’t solve, but knowledge is always coming from experimenting and reasoning. Sometimes, trying to save the world or to find the antidote to the magical soup; to be the hero or not to be the hero. If one road is blocked, we should try another; if the outside situation can’t solve the issue, then maybe we should dive into the matter itself. As said: “accept what you can’t change, and change what you don’t accept.” Drink it, Drink the soup, go into the “overturned” world, so what? Who told that you the witch wins in the end?

Thank you for reading, hope my poor writing didn’t bother you that much. I am doing a 30 days writing challenge, I gotta keep practicing writing. I will try my best to do better! Have a wonderful day, my friend:)