三十路

古来人生三十立
立家立业又立勤
天生亲戚各自选
好友良伴似同源
鸟会择良木而寝
人需选善业投灵

奋斗十载四十岁
自视斤量会不会
十年耕耘喜悲交
创伤胜利一身了
厉害当前我不惑
天云地水自己活

愿得潇洒到半百
过往二十何处来
人到五十大车站
终结半身茶香淡
来龙去脉知天命
前方责任要拿定

有往十年清业务
六十花甲一路途
前处有景走马花
利弊得失随它化
若有杂务随手拿
非己之事不管它

人生七十古来稀
多少当年不到期
凤凰山鸡也叫老
清粥豆干红枣糕
知心亲友茶水招
世事无常乐逍遥
— 30/11/20

Commentary: My interpretation of Confucius’ words: 三十而立，四十而不惑，五十而知天命，六十而耳顺，七十而从心所欲不踰矩.

• Established at 30 years old (三十而立). Establish what? Establish home (立家) – choose which relatives that you want to maintain close contact and which relatives to distance. Establish career (立业) – decide what career directions, it may not be path but general direction is needed. Establish aspirations (立勤) – what are your core values and what kind of person you want to be.
• 40 is the age of non-confusion (四十而不惑). After walking 10 years, we tasted both successes and failures, and have seen people making it big and people that fell. Some succeed then fell while others made a comeback. 40 years old is the point where our parents aged and started to leave this world. Taking lessons, I am no longer confused with my directions.
• 50, by then, we are definitely at middle years. This is the point of knowing the destiny (五十而知天命). We know that life dealt us a hand but we are the ones that play the hand – most of destiny is self-created. We see where we came from and seen the history of many others. At this point, we stock take our success and failures, completed duties and on-going responsibilities. We walked 2 decades to arrive here, and we have about 2 decades left to go. 50 years old is an important mid-point and we can see the end of our careers. We seen our fruits from 2 decades of work, and can predict 2 decades ahead as well. If there is any changes to be made, now is the time.
• 10 more years of completing responsibilities and we are now 60 years old. It is the point of hearing and pick to lis-ten – we can hear anything but we have to pick what we want to accept (六十而耳顺). No massive changes should be made now. Past successes and losses are no longer im-portant. We are officially old. Finish up the remaining responsibilities and enjoy the scenery without taking sides. Care less and let by-gone be gone.
• Not many people can live to 70 years old – I have friends who passed away in their late 20s. Hopefully, I still have friends of more than 20 years but I definitely have once friends that I had lost contact for at least 20 years. By now, all responsibilities should be completed. Nobody is young now. The pageant in school or the ugly duckling, are wrinkled. Hope that I have the wisdom to be kind to myself (if I ever reach this age) – 享清福。