1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows: A Memoir

by Weiwei Ai

On December 16, 2014, Ai Lao wrote for me, in Chinese characters, “Heart calm and good.” It was an aphorism of his own invention: If the heart is calm, you’ll do things well. “I find that bad people are all strong,” Ai Lao said. “They need to be strong to do bad things. And so, if you want to be stronger, you need to do some bad things—but not too many, otherwise you’ll become a bad person yourself.” Wang Fen told him, “Your dad says there’s nothing perfect in the world. What do you think?” “Yes, there is,” Ai Lao said. “Life is perfect.” “Don’t always keep thinking about things being fair or unfair,” he added. “Sometimes, what’s unfair is fair. For example, if you get something that someone else doesn’t have—that’s not necessarily unfair, because maybe he already has more stuff than you.”