Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy

The Little Match Girl

A few days ago, I cleaned up my desk and found a letter to myself in ten years. I read it by curiosity and recalled that it was the assignment when I was ten. Seeing my childish handwriting, all the memories came to me.

My parents value my education very much. After school, they asked me to learn more, such as painting, English, piano and so on. They hoped I could be therefore outstanding in the future. The after school classes were fun in the beginning and I enjoyed it. I had many friends and could not wait to go there. However, some days later, I started to feel pressure when there wer.tests, grades and competition which turn a heaven into a hell. Gradually I did not like to go to these classes.

The heavy schedule ended when I went to junior high school. However, there was another nightmare waiting for me. My parents paid much attention to my academic performance which made me spend a lot of time on it. It seemed that they are never satisfied; whenever I exhausted myself meeting their requests, they would say that I need to continue to improve my performance. In consequence, I always run after these unlimited goals and impossible dreams. Some time later, I felt tired and thought that my parents did not care me at all but my study results. I felt like the little match girl, who could not go home before selling out all the matches.

After senior high school, I passed the exam and was able to enter a university of my long-cherished dream. My parents unexpectedly persuaded me to take the entrance exam again for a better school. I was tired and all bad memories came to me. It’s enough! I was angry about my growth experiences. Nobody understood me. Nobody cared me.

Mother talked to me to unlock my heart after I argued with my family. She told me that grandpa’s family had been very poor. Therefore, she had to study hard to succeed in exams and received her bachelor’s degree which helped her find a stable job and got rid of poverty. Her experience tells her that only studying hard can help one discard poverty. And, my father had a similar story. Grandpa got sick and died due to his friends defaulting on debts. Because of studying hard, my father got his bachelor’s degree and earns a steady income. Rather than poverty, they pushed me to study hard and have a better life.

Listening to mother’s words, I made a self-examination about how I get along with my parents. Once I had to take a bus to a cram school. Before that, my mother checked again and again whether I had enough changes. I was really impatient of her. One day I and my mother went to grandma’s home. When we were leaving, I saw grandma also ask my mother whether she had enough money to buy train tickets again and again. I finally knew parents’ love to their children from grandma’s behavior. I found my parents really love me very much and recalled Shifu’s word, "The closeness of a family will reveal when the members see others’ hard working."

I then started to recall what my parents have done for me. Once I fell down from the slide and broke my tooth. Father and Mother eagerly brought me to see the doctor. Furthermore, I fell down incautiously and my eye was stabbed with a steel wire. My parents were frightened. They quickly took me and rushed to a hospital. Besides, Father incautiously boiled his hand because he wanted to cook my favorite stew eggplant. Shifu’s words have unlocked my heart. All memories came to me: I was touched, ashamed, and joyful with tears.

After self-examination, I sincerely wrote a letter to my parents and begged them to forgive me. I appreciated their hard working to give me a safe and sweet home. I improved the relationship between me and my parents. I used to think of Father and Mother as my bosses, but now we are like friends: we share feelings and fun in daily life and get closer.

By reflection, I transformed hatred into gratitude to Father and Mother. In Tai Ji Men, Shifu teaches me self-examination. Practicing kongfu with my family, I communicate with them by heart-to-heart talk, which let me understand what they think about. I feel gratitude to my parents because they bring me to Tai Ji Men Energy Family. I will also appreciate Shifu and Shimu who teach me and make me a good girl. I am really happy now.