Yesterday I came across a picture of a well with a person inside at the bottom of it. Under the picture are some small Chinese words, meaning it is a misfortune to know that the sky is much bigger than the well; it is bliss to believe that the sky is no bigger than the well. I’m not sure what message the painter wants to convey, nor do I know what others think about it. But I feel there seems to be some point in it.

In China we often say, “Don’t view the sky at the bottom of a well like a frog does.” The implied meaning is obvious. It’s not wise to blindly accept everything; instead we should look beyond the horizon. We should never be complacent about what we achieved. There’s always someone out there who is more knowledgeable, more skillful, more insightful or just simply better than you. The pursuit of getting better and better could be endless.

It is just this insatiable desire that makes our society develop continuously throughout the history. It’s nice and good to be able to realize our full potential. However, we have to admit that we all have limitations. We need to work hard, even fight for our dreams. But the fact is that we do need to rest occasionally. Honestly speaking, not all our wishes can be realized,

If the man in the well had no chance to get out, would it be better to keep him ignorant? Imagine what kind of life he would lead if he knew that the outside world is really wonderful but that he had to live in the well and could not escape in any way? As a teacher, we meet all kinds of students. It is just natural that some of them are extremely intelligent, some just average and some a bit slow. Everyone is unique and has his own advantages. However, academically there’re always some students who feel very difficult to keep up with others in certain subjects, no matter how hard they try. Can we tell them that they’re hopeless because they are born less smart?

Whatever dreams we cherish in your heart, the fundamental purpose is happiness, which is mostly subjective. We should have dreams and work hard to make them come true. However, the dreams should be reasonable. And most importantly, we should have fun in the process. In other words we have to learn to enjoy the process of pursuing our goals. Don’t always compare with others, compare with yourself, the you in the past. So long as we’re improving day by day, we should be content and happy. Never fall into the trap of wishing to gain something that is actually beyond your reach or just not feasible, and then living a self-inflicted miserable life.