The Paradox of Forgetting

The Zhongyuan Festival, also known as the Ghost Festival or the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, is not only a day to commemorate the deceased in Chinese culture but also a traditional festival that carries profound folk beliefs and family emotions in China. This year, my parents and I returned to the Flower Village after a long absence to pay homage to my mother's parents in heaven and also to trace the almost forgotten traces of my mother's life. The entrance hall of the old house is overgrown with weeds, and the old items inside are covered with dust. However, the memories of the past seem clear and bright under the protection of the dust, as if they have never faded. Mother put on the clothes left to her by her grandmother, led me to the corner of the room, picked up the farm tools there and told me about the ordinary life under the oil lamp and candlelight decades ago. We burnt paper money for our grandparents. At this moment, from the strands of white hair on my mother's head and the tears at the corners of her eyes, I saw her having a conversation with her dearest parents. What we have done on this trip is a paradox simulation against memory forgetting, a trace back to the origin of family affection and warmth, and more importantly, a window of time and space that teaches us to cherish the present even more.