It is my conviction that we are facing ourselves rather than others for the majority of our lives. My 20th birthday falls on July 7, 2012 marking the 1703rd day of my presence in this world. Thus, I consider this performance to be a present sent by me to celebrate my 20th birthday.
Time is my closest friend and witness. Dragging my luggage along the street in my hometown, I have come back from university. I go to my high school, and in front of the main gate, I change my clothes into the school uniform I used to wear. Then, while reading my high school text books, I complete a 1000 meter run, just as I used to do in high school. Next, I had planned to walk through the elapsed times in middle school, primary school and kindergarten. Nevertheless, the performance at the middle school became the last one due to the intervention of my family. The family meeting, secretly recorded from my pocket is the biggest and most furious fight in twenty years. It completes the performance and attaches this work with more meaning to me than merely the work itself.
Committed to myself since 1703.
Audio Recording(excerpt)
(father)Yesterday, I was terribly annoyed about Yao Cong.
Yao Cong, frankly speaking, it does not matter whether you have your own thought or not, and it does not matter your mother is on your side neither.I am firmly against what you did. I do not care whether you are thoughtful or not and I support everything you do if it is acceptable by the public.This event will be headlines if you do, but scandals rather than appreciations. Yao Cong, think twice before what you do. Consider about your family’s feelings. You are living in society, not vacuum. Yesterday, I told you these kinds of events should only occur privately. What’s worse, they might make no sense, even in private space. I do not want you to do this as I have told you yesterday afternoon.
I will not do this anywhere familiar since it cannot be accepted here. I will do this somewhere unknown. If you do this outside, it is very possible that the information can be back through various media such as newspaper. I told you that yesterday.
(mother)He said he felt depressed, cluttered and troubled for all these twenty years. That’s why I told you this.
(father)Your talents should be developed. I hope you can bring your potential into full play and you can become increasingly remarkable. But just look at what you did.You think you are getting remarkable. But, strip naked at your school gate and do that is not remarkable at all.
(brother)You should think about our family, not purely yourself when you did this. As your brother, I told you yesterday.
(father)For instance, it is similar to civil engineering.High-rise and multistory buildings are all for profits.High-rises can bring more fame, while multistory buildings can bring more money. It depends on what you want under the conditions of limited human, financial and material resources.
You want to have an in-depth research on this is a good thing, not bad. But why did you carry out such a project since there were various choices? Why didn’t you choose another way? It had no difference with the man you mentioned who cut off his finger and hanged it on his neck.I hope you will not run to the extreme. Never become a man of extremes.
It is just what others think about your yesterday behavior. Why do you care about others’ judgments? You are still a student, not entering into the society. If you are forty or fifty, you should be responsible for yourself. But of course, you are over eighteen now, and you should be responsible for yourself as well.
Have you ever thought about how I feel? You only care about yourself. Your mother said the whole family should support you with all-out effort yesterday afternoon. I came back just to do this. But, I don’t want to tell you about it. It’s bad to get involved in this affair. It is not necessary to impose your own idea or your own happiness upon anyone else in the family.
Strangers will not care about what you do. If you turn out successful and get famous, they can abuse you or believe you are competent. If you do something folly, they will curse, and the family will be under the pressure. The whole family has a stake in your success or failure. But what you did, to be frank, you may have joy, but for the whole family, only sorrow. In brief, if I tell it to your grandparents, you know the consequences.
I tell you it is truly unnecessary. Chang your point of view and never split hairs. How could this kind of events be accepted and appreciated by everyone? Just stick to your own opinion. Anyway, never get annoyed whatever others say. You should listen carefully, and then you can judge and criticize.
