Children of the Earth

Author: Li Jinglin

The ones closest to the earth are children.

Hold a handful of fine sand in your hand and watch the sand slip from your fingers. This can keep a child happily playing for a long time. Put it on a small car and pull it along, and use it as ink to spread various patterns on the ground, or spread it flat on the ground and write stroke by stroke those few characters that you have only known for a few days. He won't give up and go home for dinner unless he hears his parents shouting several times and finally threatening him with a spanking.

Children can tell the difference between sand and dirt just as they can clearly tell which kind of snowflake can make a snowball. When it comes to writing, the sifted fine sand is of the highest quality. Occasionally, it is used as a weapon by naughty children and thrown at their companions. The sky is full of rain, and it is inevitable to get scolded by parents when I return home. If you are pinching a "country bumpkin", fine sand is not as good as wet soil. Several children work together to compete to see whose "country bumpkin" can be made bigger and rounder, and cannot be spread out when placed on the ground. This has to be said to be a "technical job". The children's challenges don't stop there. They can pick up discarded drinks bottles and fill them with water, steal a cup from home or take out an empty jelly box that has been treasured for a long time, put wet soil in it, and push it to the ground, and a small "castle" will rise from the ground. Don’t underestimate the ratio between soil and water. If there is too much water, the soil will stick to the cup and cannot be pulled out. If there is too little water, the “castle” that is pulled out will collapse immediately. A child with dexterous hands will use wood chips to build the "castle" into a beautiful shape. If his hands shake and the castle collapses, he will at most wipe his tears and go back to his great construction business. When all the children are called home by their parents, the ground will be a mess as if it had just been fought.

It is said that children are the first to know the temperature of the spring river. Children are the first to know the temperature of the land. Dig a small hole in the ground to play marbles, catch grasshoppers and crickets in the grass, and roll around on the ground. They knew exactly when it was too cold to touch, when it was warm, and when they could lie on it comfortably. Children know the temperature of the earth best and care least about it. "Get up, the ground is cold!" Perhaps this is what parents say most often.

I haven’t sat on the ground for a long time.

Walking towards Hongyuan Building from the east gate, I accidentally saw a pile of sand used for construction on the roadside. Suddenly I have an urge to grab a handful of dirt and play with it selflessly for a long time like I did when I was a child. When I came out of my trance and looked up around me, I realized that my childhood friends were no longer around me. I had been away from my childhood for a long time.

In the streets of the city, it has been a long time since I sat on the grass and chatted with friends, or lay on the thick fallen leaves and watched the warm autumn sun. The days go by so fast that it always feels like there are still too many things to do. When you calm down, you will have a longing in your heart to go to the vast fields, run like a deer, open your arms to embrace the sun and the wind. When you are tired, you will lie on the ground, rest your head on your arms, and watch the clouds roll and relax. I always feel that there is a rhythm in nature that is closest to the human heartbeat, and it resonates with us in silence.

We are children of the earth, and it’s time for us to go home.