Yangtze River Headwaters Volunteering Day 18 长江源志愿工作第18天

This is a series of journals recording my days in the Yangtze River Headwaters volunteering project. I will try to update every day but there might be delays in the days I work in the wild without the internet. I’m also trying to write bilingual if time allows. Like it? Follow my Instagram (@anar.chica.yichenguo) for updates!
这是我参与长江源志愿工作的一系列记录。我争取每日更新，但在野外工作没有网络的那些日子会有延迟。在时间允许的情况下，也会尽量使用中英双语。喜欢的话，关注我的Ins账号(@anar.chica.yichenguo)获取更新吧！

Early in the morning I walked towards the toilet with sleepy eyes. I raised my head and saw a herd of Tibetan gazelles and I stunned. The gazelles saw me and stunned, too. I opened the door of the dry toilet container, then they turned around eat their grass or relax. I guess the life of us humans here must be very simple in the eyes of the gazelles. Our area of activities is mainly limited to five containers, a big tent, the area for solar panels and sometimes the grassland between containers and the lakeside. Most of the time we stay from one concealed space to another without too much time outdoors. As long as we are within the area they they see as our territory, they won’t panic because of our appearance, even if we’re very close by. If I didn’t open the toilet door but instead keep moving forward until beyond the edge of the containers, it is very likely the gazelles would run away.

Today my little cutie pie grebe has got a flying insect on its neck while brooding. It stared at the insect for a long while until as if it has gotten crossed eyes. Finally it picked up and swallowed the insect with the long pointed beak. I laughed hard over the hilarious scene but suddenly realised that I do not have any sympathy for the insects. Numerous insects are eaten or beaten to death every day yet I don’t feel anything. Am I just respecting the law of nature? Then why I feel sad when other birds’ eggs are eaten by the black-necked cranes? I think after all humans are narcissistic and arrogant. The more similar the animals are to ourselves, the more empathy we feel for them. That ‘all lives are equal’ as believed in Buddhism is impossible to me. And the food chain in the nature itself is not equal. We can only say that all species are important in the ecosystem. But in terms of individuals it depends on each case. For example it would be an over reaction if you would rather itchy to death than kill a bloody mosquito. The blood sucking activity of the mosquito itself is highly risky. Humans are not the only animal that kills mosquitoes. Therefore evolution has gifted them with a strong reproduction ability. Killing the mosquitoes at home won’t affect the total species number and the birds won’t starve to death because of that either.

While the grebes are still brooding, the youngsters of the pallas’ gulls and brown-headed gulls have already grown long wings. These days we’ve seen them jumping on the ground with wings stretched out attempting to fly. Although until now none has succeeded, their courages worth an applaud. In contrast it is so strenuous for us modern people to learn new skills. How much time we have wasted in the school to learn theories. And when it comes to the actual practice, it is often unrelated to the theories or even opposite. Those who started from apprenticeship, however, learnt solid skills from the beginning and in the end may be even better with the theories than those who learnt theories to begin with. Because good masters also teach apprentices real and true theories during the practice. There are too much to reflect regarding the modern education system. But it is also closely related to the fact that the modern society is focusing too much on  the flashy things that many doesn’t reflect the real capabilities at all. For example many certifications and qualifications. I’ve seen returned student from an English speaking countries typing the simplest words with the help of spelling out loud letter by letter. If you want to be a doer, or if you really want to do something, be like a young gull, start attempting as early as possible. Maybe it’s not that difficult and with some attempts you’ll be able to make it. Or, you’ll find it’s not suitable for you, then you won’t need to waste too much time not trying.

一早起来懵懵地走向厕所，抬头看见一群藏原羚，于是愣了一下，藏原羚们看到我也愣了一下。我打开旱厕集装箱的门，它们便扭过头去该吃草吃草，该休息休息了。我猜想我们这几个人类的生活在藏原羚眼里应该是相当单纯的吧。活动的范围大致限于五个集装箱和一顶大帐篷，再加上后面铺设太阳能板的区域以及偶尔出没的集装箱和湖边之间的草地。大部分时间是从一个密闭空间到另一个密闭空间，在户外的时间不多。只要我们在它们认为的我们的地盘活动，它们对于我们的出现就不会感到惊慌，即使距离非常近。如果我没有打开旱厕的门，而是继续往前走下木板路，走到集装箱边框以外的草地上，迎来的极有可能就是一群藏原羚的奔离。

今天我的小心肝凤头鸊鷉孵蛋的时候脖子上落了一只飞虫。它看了那虫好久，看得快成了斗鸡眼，最终张开尖长的喙一口吃了。我哈哈哈哈地笑了一阵子之后猛然发现，我对于虫子的生命毫无怜悯之心。每天无数的虫被吃被拍死，我竟无任何感觉。因为遵从自然法则吗？那为什么鸟蛋被黑颈鹤吃了的时候就会感到难过呢？我想最终还是因为人是自恋而高傲的动物。跟自己越像，便越容易对其产生共情。佛家的众生平等我是做不到的，且自然界本来就有着不平等的食物链。只能说，每一个物种对于生态圈来说都很重要，但若细化到每一个个体，就要具体情况具体分析。比如为了给一只蚊子留生路宁愿自己痒死，那就太小题大做了。蚊子吸血本来就是有风险的活动，打蚊子的不只有人类，所以才进化出他们那么强的繁殖能力。打死自家蚊子对于蚊子的种群数量来说并没有多大影响。鸟儿也不会因此饿死。

鸊鷉还在孵蛋，而棕头鸥和渔鸥的幼鸟都已经长出长长的翅膀了。这几天常常见到青年渔鸥自己扑扇着翅膀跳着脚试图起飞。尽管目前为止还没有成功的，但精神着实可嘉。想想我们现代人学点技能多费劲，在学校里浪费如此多的时间抠理论，结果实操的时候往往跟理论没多大关系甚至是反的。而从学徒做起稳扎稳打实操的人，最终理论反而还更好。毕竟好的师傅会在实操的过程中灌输最实用且正确的理论。现在的教育制度值得反思的东西太多了。但也与现代社会注重许多华而不实的东西有关。比如证书、学历、资质等等。这其中很多都完全不能反映一个人的真实实力。我就见过英语国家留学回来的人打个最简单的单词还要一个字母一个字母拼读出来的。但如果你想做个实干家，如果真的想做成一件事，就像小渔鸥一样，尽早放手去尝试吧。或许没那么难，试试就试出来了，也或许尝试之后发现路不对，也可以减少时间的浪费。