“Stay at home” is a fashionable term in the current special period, and it is an effective measure of limited management to fight against the epidemic. For a retiree, it is neither adaptive nor adaptive. What adapts is that after retirement, it takes more time to stay at home than going out. What does not adapt is not letting you take a step out of the house, staying at home continuously, and spending the quietest Spring Festival in memory, and it seems a bit lonely. It is true that I have been staying at home for more than three weeks since the Chinese New Year’s Eve. In response to the outbreak of the epidemic, the Party Central Committee leads people to launch a comprehensive anti-epidemic battle. Experts told us that the best way to participate as a retiree is to stay at home, so that you can protect yourself from being infected and also not cause trouble to community management.
When staying at home, reading and surfing the Internet are indispensable with the ticking of the clock. Every morning, I see the greetings from familiar WeChat groups, most of which are: Are you ok? Good luck! The information conveyed is the progress related to the fight against the epidemic and the popular science knowledge of the epidemic prevention and control. Just now, I had a WeChat call with a shipmate who was on the same ship with me more than 40 years ago and we talked about the situation of staying at home. We spontaneously said that staying at home for three weeks was as if we had taken a long voyage across the Pacific. Of course, we also have a consensus, that is, this time staying at home may be longer than the time cross the ocean. During the call, we reviewed an unforgettable sailing experience. It was a voyage across the North Pacific after leaving Vancouver, Canada after New Year’s Day. During that voyage, we fought against the storm. We lament that, by contrast, staying at home to fight the virus is now much more comfortable than fighting the wind and waves at sea.
For ships sailing on the turbulent sea, the space for seafarers was very narrow. Due to the wind and waves, all the watertight doors leading to the deck had to be closed. The seafarers in the wind and waves were “housed” in the cabins between square inches, working and living mechanically between the work place, the cabin and the mess room every day. During that voyage, it happened to encounter super huge wind and waves. In the wind and waves, the huge impact formed by the huge waves and the thrust of the ship made every crew member’s heart tremble. The ship pitched and rolled with the roar of the main engine; the impact of wind and waves and the creaking sound of the hull, interwoven together. Everyone on the ship couldn’t sleep and it was hard to stand steadily. Sitting was more tired than standing, as if across the dividing line between life and death. The staff on duty in rotation insisted on their posts. They had to be cautious and keep working, no matter how tired they were. No one complained, sighed, or left. The duty crewmembers, who were severely seasick, tied the plastic bucket next to the work post and vomited while manipulating the ship along the established course. The engineers in the engine room held the plastic buckets, spit out and walked hard to inspect the various instrument parameters of the machines. Basically everyone on the ship vomited whatever they ate. The serious vomiting was yellow water. Only those who had experienced it knew how uncomfortable the internal organs were. The captain told us, don’t be afraid! Eat when you vomit, vomit again when you eat, don’t let your stomach empty, and keep your strength. This is the best adaptability. With adaptability, there is combat effectiveness. In the huge wind and waves, we must not only face the physical torture of the wind and waves, but also overcome the fear of the impermanent wind and waves. Everyone on the ship, in the stormy waves and boundless sea, can most realize that people in the same condition help each other.
For the crew sailing in the wind and waves, the main concern is the captain’s look. If the captain is very calm to direct the ship, everyone will feel very stable, and will do their own work seriously and silently, because everyone understands that the captain’s composure is the stability of the ship, and error-free operation is to ensure everyone’s safety. At this time, all crew must obey the captain’s orders and follow the captain’s commands. Every crewmember on the ship must not be negligent or paralyzed. Carelessness in the wind and waves will bring more unforeseen serious consequences. In those days, there was no developed information service system. Telegraphers used the radio to listen to the weather forecast every day and provided it to the captain. The captain would carefully analyze the weather elements around the sea area where the ship was located and judge the weather conditions on the route. One day after we sailed in the wind and waves for half a month, the captain wrote a notice on the blackboard of the restaurant: “According to the weather forecast, the rough weather will weaken in 48 hours, the sea will be calm after 60 hours, and we will be able to reach Shanghai port in five days.” A few words refreshed the spirits of all crewmembers, and the faces that had been highly nervous since sailing showed a happy expression. In particular, the crewmembers who could go home for a public holiday after arriving at the port were happy. and they started to calculate the itinerary and how many days they could spend the Spring Festival at home! The chef said that with the notice, the crew were so excited that the food for lunch was not enough, and he needed to make some noodles and bread. It is true that home is the warmest, calmest and safest harbor! Going home is the happiest moment for crew who have experienced the wind and waves. Through the joint efforts of the captain and crew, we finally arrived at the warm harbor of our motherland as scheduled!
At this moment, I am staying at home, receiving the care and solicitude from organizations, family members, relatives and friends, and not giving additional trouble to our country is also a contribution. The WeChat call with the old shipmate sketched out the scene of fighting the wind and waves, which is hard to forget. When recalling the mood at that time, it is still difficult to calm down. This year, staying at home and staring at the news of the epidemic on TV with ups and downs gives me the same mood of shipping in the storm. In the anxiety, we can see the vast number of medical staff, media reporters, public officials, traffic workers who stick to their posts and the working masses of other industries at the battlefront of the epidemic prevention and control. They are not afraid of danger, race against time, do their work professionally and conscientiously. Their back figure of fighting against the virus, their simple professional words, and the marks on their faces under their goggles make us deeply moved. For China, for more Chinese people to live better, to snatch lives from the gods of death, for more fathers, mothers, and children to have a safe living environment, they are silently holding on and rushing to the forefront of the fight against death.
Facing the impermanent power of the sea and the terrible rampage of the virus, people are both the weak being bullied and the strong overcoming challenges. For navigators, the characteristic of work on ship is that there is always danger, and any negligence, carelessness and paralysis will lose vigilance and lead to disasters. For people on land, they should not be arrogant about the natural environment, or challenge nature with disapproval, which will lead to disasters.
This battle against the epidemic has made us more aware that every Chinese lives on the big ship of the Chinese nation, and everyone’s fate is tied to the safety of this big ship. The people on the ship are willing to calm the waves, but the wind and waves will always challenge, and the storms will always occur unexpectedly, tempering the mind and belief of everyone on the ship. Whenever the wind and waves pass, the huge ship sails on the mirror-like sea. The intoxicating physical and mental pleasure and unforgettable cherishment can only be felt by those who have experienced wind and waves.
Therefore, I think, after winning the battle, spring will return to the earth, and the mountains and rivers will be more beautiful; China will be unharmed; China will be stronger! (Source: China Water Transport Author: Xu Zuyuan, former vice minister of Ministry of Transport, maritime ambassador of IMO)