端 午節 Rice Dumpling Festival/Dragon Boat Festival:
During my secondary school days, a chinese teacher whom was rather knowledgeable actually shared with the class a lesser known tale about Qu Yuan, 屈原.
"While he was still alive after his banishment, he was at Miluo river reciting poems. He chanced upon a fisherman whom recognized him and asked what was troubling him.
Qu Yuan replied:" For the world that is muddy and drunk, I, alone is clean and sober. And being clean and sober caused my exile."
The fisherman told Qu Yuan it was not worth to get himself exiled because of his noble aspirations. To which Qu Yuan replied that he'd rather drown in the river and eaten by fishes than to immerse in the mud and dirt of the vulgar world.
The fisherman told Qu Yuan as he was leaving....
"If the river water runs clear and clean, it is good enough to wash the hat tussels (used to wrap the head and ears in cold weather), but if the river water is murky, it is still good enough to rinse your feet in it."
Not sure if Qu Yuan got the drift of what was advised to him.. But I guess he was too filled with anguish then to listen to a simple old man.
It doesn't take a lot to take life a notch slower to listen to an old man.
