Meeting an Old Acquaintance on the Square

• Meeting an Old Acquaintance on the Square

I recognized him; we went to school together a long time ago. He was quite tall initially, but never grew much; he was always chattering, loved to be the center of attention, in his own dialect – a bit of a coward. He'd jump into everything, but his words lacked direction, so he wasn't given much weight. He was just a fleeting presence in the excitement. He was a classmate from elementary school, and this personality was the reason he wasn't trusted. He finished elementary school and couldn't make much of himself; he couldn't even comprehend the word 'big'.

Years after not seeing him, I ran into him one day at the municipal square. He was still outgoing, talking about everything north, south, east, and west. The difference was that he wore black-rimmed glasses on his nose. The next evening, I saw him again, and he was still in the same state. I asked him, 'What's wrong with your eyes?' He replied, 'It's normal.' I then asked, 'Do these glasses have a zoom function, perhaps for a couple of hundred yuan?' He said, 'Twenty yuan.' At sixty years old, he had some nearsightedness, but he could still wear glasses and go out. And the glasses didn't zoom; I understood that since he couldn't correct his nearsightedness, they were just plain old reading glasses.

Glasses, which were once a burden and something one had to endure, have now become a trendy fashion statement. This reflects the society's growing respect for knowledge, but it's gone a bit too far – seeing people wearing glasses on the street has become a trend. It's like when cheongsam was popular, and now are popular, regardless of one's identity, status, cultivation, or manners, people assume that wearing glasses means they are knowledgeable and beautiful. Perhaps this is just a way for people to admit that they don't recognize their own shortcomings, and a form of 'pretentiousness' that has begun.

Even many things that I couldn't understand or approve of have become fashionable trends. A perfectly good piece of clothing had the buttons sewn on the back, making it seem like you were always wearing it wrong. Look at those dancing girls over there – their knees have two large holes, but the initial amazement and criticism have long since faded.

Time is like a train, moving forward relentlessly, with changing scenery on both sides, and changing moods and societal views…