王德顺

I was listening to an old Chinese man's speech online. I chanced upon it.
Mainly because I recognised him as THE old Chinese man whose picture went viral last year when he proudly strutted his stuff down the runway during China's fashion week.

His name is Wang De Shun, 王德顺 in Chinese.
He was 79 last year, which makes him 80 this year in 2016.
He was in very good shape during the talk, speaking, prancing, jumping, gesticulating and running about on stage.
It was a TEDx-type of forum called Yixi. You know, whatever the world has, China would have its own version of it.

Although the talk was mainly a chronological diary of his achievements in life and in the arts, it was inspiring in a way. It wasn't a self-glorifying speech but it didn't dwell on life values and learning points either. He left it to the individual listener to glean what they wanted from his talk. 

For me, my takeaway was that while tenacity, drive, determination, passion, grit and hardwork gets you far, luck and connections bring you further and helps set you apart from the others who also have the same grit and passion as you do. Getting a lifelong partner who supports you in your quest in life is important, as is holding to your own ideals and principles in life. And, it is important to keep your passion and interests alive, no matter what age.

Set your mind to something you want and pursue it doggedly. For one of his art performance, in order to fulfil the role he envisioned in his mind, he spent 3 years at the gym to hone and tone his body. He had wanted to achieve an Adonis-like physique because he would be "performing" with 3 bronze female Greek mythology-type statues. And so he set his mind to enter the gym and get that body he wanted. He was aged 50 when he stepped into the gym for the first time. When he was 53 and had attained his body, his face looked like an old man but his body looked like a 30-year old's.

He ended his 30mins talk with a poem written 30-odd years in the 1980s by a poet from Shanghai named Bai Hua, 白桦.

And in that poem titled 船, was a line which I thought resonated with me.

今天，我才有资格嘲笑昨天的我。
- 白桦