Be ordinary and be happy

Over the past 20 years, I have watched the Lion King for more than a dozen of times.

 

When I first watched the movie, the scene of Mufasa's death made me - a six-year-old girl at that time - cry, and since then, I have always skipped that part. Later on, during my middle-school years, I liked the love story part a lot, and Simba and Nala were really a perfect couple in my heart. Every time I watched the movie, I felt differently.

 

Recently, I have watched the Lion King again. This time, what impressed me the most was the lifestyle of Pumbaa and Timon - they were ordinary and lived an ordinary life. Before joining Simba to regain¹ his kingdom, all about their life were eating and singing. It seemed to me that probably the years with Pumbaa and Timon were the happiest time in Simba's life.

 

To me, the best lesson that Pumbaa and Timon have taught us is that even though they know they are ordinary and their life is ordinary, they still love and enjoy it.

 

In fact, in the real world, only quite a few people can accomplish great things and become extraordinary, and the rest of us will just live our ordinary life.

 

A sentence in an article recommended by the Fair (WeChat Subscription) touched me: by hard work, ordinary people only fight for the right to continue their ordinary life in the ordinary world. It is cruel, but it is true (at least in my opinion).

 

The best solution is to accept and enjoy it. I know it's hard but this is a part of growing up. I'm not saying that we should not be ambitious² or have great dreams, after all, just as Vince Lombardi has said, "Perfection³ is not attainable⁴, but if we chase⁵ perfection we can catch excellence⁶". However, I just think we should get prepared if our great dreams would never come true.

 

I also had dreamt about becoming extraordinary at a young age, same as most of my fellow classmates in primary school. In the senior high school, I was no longer one of the top students, and then, for the very first time, I recognized that maybe I couldn’t be extraordinary.

 

Now, I'm well aware that I'm no more than an ordinary person but I'm happy with that. I went to an ordinary university and got my BA in English, then to another ordinary university and received my MA in translation and interpreting⁷. Doing the editor's job, I now earn myself a life in Shanghai, such an expensive metropolitan⁸ city to live in (and I'm not a local girl).

 

I can't afford Michael Kors or Issey Miyake, but I have comfortable clothes which fit me well. I usually go out dinner with a couple of friends on weekends, not fancy⁹ or first class restaurants but sidewalk café or common restaurants where we know there are delicious food and nice service.

 

I consider this not the passive¹⁰ acceptance¹¹, but an optimistic attitude of turning "this is life" to "this is the life". But all in all, I still have dreams, just in case they would become true one day.

 

Yes, be ordinary and be happy.

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