Erxiang Space | Four years have passed, do you still remember Dr. Wenliang?

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Dr. Li Wenliang

Four years have passed, do you still remember Dr. Wenliang?

By Er Xiang

Today marks the fourth anniversary of Dr. Li Wenliang’s passing.

Four years ago today, the Moments were filled with mourning, all of Wuhan, all of China were crying for him, and it was snowing all over China, just as Joyce wrote in “The Dead”: “His soul was slowly falling asleep, as he listened to the snowflakes falling gently through the universe, gently, as they finally ended, falling on all the living and the dead.”

How many people, like me, shed tears for the young doctor from afar who we didn’t know four years ago?

Four years have passed, do we still remember him? Four years have passed, do we still remember the grief we felt on the day he passed away? Four years have passed, what do we still remember?

I remember a VP from my company once said that human memory of pain is surprisingly short. This is probably why we always say: “The only lesson humans learn from history is that humans cannot learn any lessons from history.” We always choose to gloss over the memory of pain, because it’s too painful.

Can we remember joy? We can remember great joy. Every important moment in life, those scenes of celebration and reunion, those moments when dreams come true, we can always remember, but the memory is also gradually fading.

Each of us is ultimately an individual, and for the individual, what we can remember is still the people and things most closely related to ourselves. We haven’t personally experienced the suffering and joys of others, so we can’t be so deeply moved. “Relatives or the rest are sad, others have already sung.” Thinking about this is also very natural and reasonable, otherwise, with so many tragedies every day, how can we bear it.

However, Dr. Li’s passing is no longer just the passing of an individual, but a public memory, a public event. And such a public event should not be forgotten. However, the memories of all individuals will vanish, unless there are written records, in this sense, words and images have their important significance.

Fortunately, Dr. Li’s Weibo has been there, and the written records have been there. It has become a wall of tears, where ordinary people from all over the world express their thoughts, their daily lives, and even their pain. I see some people who are about to give up leaving messages there, and then strangers leave messages to comfort these people. People say good morning and good night to him here, people chat with him here, confide in him, and talk about their troubles.

I always believe that Dr. Li was a brave man, although the big Vs on Weibo who attacked him said that he was no hero, just forwarding that report to his classmates’ group, but you must know that some people didn’t dare to forward it, and he later had the courage to accept an interview with Caixin, and his statement “A healthy society should not have only one voice” became a maxim we believe in, which requires courage, and not everyone can do it.

This is a friend’s writing, and he, like me, believes that Dr. Li was a brave man: “I often think: If I were him, would I be a whistleblower? Would I risk being fired and detained to release such a warning? Between becoming a bright but short-lived meteor and being a red dwarf that can burn for a long time, how would I choose? We are always educated in school in this way, but unfortunately, society always teaches us some things that are the opposite. School teaches us to believe in freedom, society teaches us to rely on high walls; school teaches us honesty, society teaches us to lie; school teaches us to stand up, society teaches us to protect ourselves.”

Why are our choices so different? I think it’s because some people simply treat these words and virtues as materials for essays or speeches, used to cheat on grades and money, and some people, although they believe in them, do not have the courage to practice them. And some people, they see them as the meaning of their own existence, as something they must defend at all costs, in my opinion, Dr. Li Wenliang is like the person who carries the cross for us.”

Fortunately, four years have passed, and people have not forgotten him. Today, many people in my Moments are forwarding his photos and posts, and today, many people are still leaving messages on his Weibo. Some people say: Dr. Li, Joy of Life 2 still hasn’t been broadcast, the pandemic has been over for so long, four years feels like a dream.” Some people say: “Dr. Li, four years have passed, everyone still remembers you, I hope your family is safe and sound.”  

Four years have passed, and Dr. Li’s second child is also almost four years old. I think, on this day, the one who misses him the most should be his family.

Four years in an instant, time has changed so much, but fortunately, many of us still remember him. With the memories of thousands and thousands of people, with the written records of thousands and thousands of people, Dr. Li will not be forgotten by history. He gained eternal life from the moment he passed away, becoming a star in the night sky. From then on, his name flows with the river of time, forever forward, never stopping.