Today I interviewed my old friend, his name is Jiawei Zhang and his English name is Mike. Mike is 22 years old, like me. He is the most accomplished person around me, so I chose to interview him, and as far as I know, he likes patriotic songs very much, so I want to know why. Because in my impression, young people like pop or love music. I spent elementary and junior high school with him. I came to America in high school, Mike chose to stay in China and continue to study music. Mike is now studying at one of the best music universities in China, Xinghai Conservatory of Music. I started the interview by asking him a lot of questions, first of all: When did you start singing? Mike said that he has been listening to songs since he was a child, because his mother was a dance teacher, so when he was a child, he sat there and listening to songs and watching his mother dance. And his mother likes ethnic dances, so the background music is mostly ethnic and patriotic songs. This also laid the groundwork for why he now loves famous patriotic songs. What kind of music do you like to sing, do you still love national and patriotic songs? He said yes, he still loves national patriotic songs very much. Here he told a short story. He described to me how backward and poor his hometown was 50 years ago. His grandparents had difficulty eating at that time because they were too poor and had no food. However, as the country has become stronger and stronger, especially in the past 30 years, China has developed extremely fast. It is now the second largest economy in the world and will fully develop into a well-off society in 2021. This made his grandparents feel very touched. The current social outlook is beyond their imagination. So, when Mike was still very young, his grandparents taught him to cherish his current life and grow up. In order to learn to serve the motherland. In addition, through the efforts of his parents, he is now studying in one of the best music colleges in China. He feels very honored that he can do what he wants to do-music, without having to work hard to earn tuition fees. Therefore, he feels deeply and wants to express his love for the motherland through his singing. He also said that he will choose to go to Italy or the United States for graduate study, because he wants to write more patriotic songs to remember his hometown and motherland. This also makes me feel a lot, because I am studying in the United States now, and I hope that I can also use the knowledge I learned in the United States to serve my motherland in the future.
After interviewing and talking with Jiawei, I sighed with emotion. I can deeply feel that Jiawei has grown from an ignorant teenager to an inspirational youth who is loyal to his dream and deeply loves the motherland and nation. As for myself, I have to admit that in the past, I always believed that the country and the individual are independent individuals to some extent. Although everyone has their own country and nation, they are one of the large individuals. It is impossible for our own thoughts and actions to have any influence on the country, and the decision-making and status of the country are also very far away from our daily lives. However, after I had an in-depth dialogue with Jiawei, my thinking has undergone a very big change. Jiawei’s words reminded me of the little things I learned in my study and life in the past, the changes in the country and the changes in our lives over the years. I finally began to understand that each of us is a member of the country, an integral part of it. A country contains thousands of individuals, without an individual, there is no country, and an individual who leaves the country cannot survive.
Human beings are social animals, and we emphasize the power of groups. Just imagine, can a lonely person fight against the destructive power that is beyond his own power? And the state with the moral value system as the criterion actually assumes the duty of protector of the small family, because the state apparatus can provide guarantee for the normal survival of the individual. For example, when a natural disaster occurs, the state can send an army to rescue the disaster; the public security law can punish the criminals who violate the lives and property of citizens. If there is no country, all this is impossible to talk about. The war refugees all over the world is examples. Although the UN refugee agency has come forward to provide relief, it is just a drop in the bucket. Turkey used electric batons to drive Syrian refugees to Greece; Greece used water guns to stop them. The poor people were driven around like sheep. Who can protect them? For those of us who are studying abroad alone, the country’s help is especially important.
Individual power cannot create the fruits of modern civilization, and most of the fruits of modern civilization are the crystallization of group wisdom and the product of industrialization and collaboration. In other words, group strength is a decisive factor in improving people’s living standards! The state is the coordinator and organizer of this group, and the infrastructure and other public products produced by its functions allow everyone to enjoy modern life. The state can also ensure that everyone lives in peace and tranquility, which is not something that an individual can do, so the state is the basic element of the division of labor and cooperation in modern society. I understand the mission on my back, and I will definitely work hard towards my dream and become a small but contributing member of the society.
Here is the interview link: https://youtu.be/o8m6SXbEqIc
