We Will Never Leave the Weird, Weird Old World Behind

Because the three men never walk away.

Once upon a time, a swordsman was taking a ferry boat. He was very composed. He didn’t notice it when his sword suddenly dropped to the river. Some passengers reminded him, “Hi! You have dropped your sword. You better jump into the river now, you might have the chance to find it.”

The swordsman moved quickly. But instead of jumping into the river, he took out a knife, cut a mark at the edge of the boat. Then he said, “This is where my sword has fallen.”

The people on board watched him. “What are you doing? Come on, jump into the river and look for your sword.”

“Easy. I have the mark here,” said the swordsman, pointing at the mark on the boat. People got more confused. “You are leaving your sword behind. You better jump now, or you will lose it forever.”

“Don’t worry. The mark will never be lost,” he replied.

As soon as the boat hit the dock, he jumped into the river over the mark and searched in the water. He’d got nothing. He said, “It’s odd. I am pretty sure this is where my sword dropped. Where is it now?”

He thought he might need help from the local people. He looked around and saw a farmer sitting under a willow tree. He went to hire him. They searched together. But still, the sword was nowhere to be found.

In the end, the swordsman left without his sword, the farmer came back to his own business. What was his business? He was waiting for a running rabbit. A what?! Here is the farmer’s story.

He used to work hard every day at the farm under the willow tree. One day he heard a loud crash. Then he saw a rabbit lying next to the tree, neck broken and dead. Obviously, a running rabbit hit the tree by accident and killed itself. After a delicious rabbit meal, the farmer was inspired by a business idea — waiting for more rabbits to hit the tree. So, he abandoned his farm, came to sit under the tree, waiting for the running rabbit. He waited, waited. He didn’t know how long he had waited, but the second rabbit never showed up.

One day he did see a running creature. But it was not a rabbit, it was a running man. He shouted to him, “Don’t rush, my friend. You could hit the tree. But why are you running so fast?”

“I am running for my shoes,” answered the running man. “I was planning to buy a pair of shoes. Before l left home this morning, I measured my feet carefully and made a stick with the exact size of my feet.” He showed a wooden stick in his hand.

“But when I got to the shoe store, I realized that I forgot to bring the stick. I had to go back home to get it. Now I must rush to the store before it’s closed.”

He ran along, left the farmer behind for his rabbit business.

When it was almost dark, the farmer saw the running man walk back. He didn’t look too happy.

“Hi, have you got your shoes?” asked the farmer.

“No. The store was already closed when I got there. What a terrible day!”

The farmer felt something was wrong, “Why didn’t you measure your feet again at the store in the morning? Tou didn’t have to go back to get the stick.”

The running man held up the stick, “Don’t be stupid! I made this stick with all my heart. I would rather trust it than my own feet.”

This is the story of the three men living in a weird, weird old world.

We don’t believe it would ever happen in the new world. Is it really so? Look around us, I bet we are seeing all these three men since the pandemic hit. There are the swordsmen that hold the old knowledge but they believe they still hold the truth, the farmers that believe the luck will hit them over and over again even they’ve abandoned the social rules like masking and vaccination. And the running men. They don’t trust the vaccine just because the podcasts and Youtube videos tell them not to. They would rather trust the online celebrities than the scientists at CDC and Pfizer.

They call it “I have done my own research”.

Let’s be honest. The three men never walk away in our life, we will never leave the weird, weird old world behind.