Longevity can make greatness even greater

Longevity can make greatness even greater，and make splendor even more splendid. The most splendid achievement of Deng Xiaoping, the general designer of China’s reform, was made after his venerable age of 73.Without his long life, there would be no brilliant achievement of today, and even a tragedy like Zhuge Liang‘s “death before the victory” might have occurred.

Life span is the total amount of life time and working time an individual enjoys. Time is power，and time signifies victory. By winning time，we can win victory. Whatever undertaking you are involved in，time is the fundamental determinative factor of achievement. A scholar once said with emotion: “A researcher could live in a slum，eat coarse meals，wear rags, could be denied recognition from the society. Yet, so long as he has time，he could continue to devote himself to scientific research. Once he is deprived of his free time，he would be ruined completely, and could no longer make contributions to knowledge.” The longer a life is, the longer the time for tackling key problems will be, the more possible it will be to make outstanding contributions and achieve great accomplishments in career.

Since ancient times, countless heroes have bowed for longevity or gasped in admiration of gods. It seems to be very strange, but in fact it is not strange at all. The more aspiring a great person is, the deeper he will feel about the transience of life, thus, the stronger his fear about the perishing of life will be and the greater his anxiety about time will be. That’s why some great people with heroic spirit as high as heaven, such as Qin Shihuang (First Emperor), Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, Cao Cao and so on, had such a great desire for eternal life. And that’s why Mao Zedong uttered his bold manifesto “Believing a life of 200 years, and thrashing water about for three thousand miles”!