I must thank Mao for this opportunity for reeducation on Phoenix mountain. It began with a wonderful experience; I was torn away from my family and stripped of all civility, save for a few of my belongings. I, along with a few other city boys, was tossed into a wagon and instructed to follow the village chiefs scattered across the vast mountain. To be honest, it was a rather pleasant and unique experience. For example, I have truly learned the meaning of hard work. I had to do backbreaking work like getting a dumb water buffalo to tow a rice paddy. The village chief was rather generous and sympathized with me. I sometimes got off on a shorter work day to relax which was delightful. Overall, I think the trip was really worth it. I have improved my morals and learned the practical skills to become successful just like Mao has said. The work was difficult but I persevered and left this mountain as a changed man. And its all thanks to Mao. So, thank you very much Mao.
Reeducation Sucks
Reeducation is such a waste of my time. I hate these people around me. They're uncultured and so dirty. The only signs of modern civilization is from the others who were dropped off here. I fortunately had the opportunity to meet two of them. Their names were Luo and Ma. Clumsy idiots they were. I must be amazing at acting because they could not discern my animosity. They were far too lax, often telling me stories of a pretty "princess". Yeah, sure. I couldn't care less about the women around here. Far too uncouth for my tastes but whatever floats their boats. My goal was to make it off of this accursed mountain in tact and the sooner the better. They did not seem to possess any significant talents that could be transferred into a proper field of work so my chances were far more optimistic. Ma played the violin which was sorta okay and I liked him for a while because he would perform a few songs for me. Luo's talent was storytelling and he was fairly decent at it. Except, that was the only thing he was good for. Stories and labor. They served their purposes well as my entertainers. Sooner or later, people will take advantage of them and they will be stepped on.
Plan of escape
I love my mom so much for sending me letters every now and then. It gave me a sense of hope of getting off this god forsaken mountain. She would write a few poems to me now and then as well as detailing her plans to rescue me from reeducation. She has instructed me to not make any emotional ties with people and keep the books a secret. I've told her about Luo and Ma and my mistake of giving them a book by Balzac because they helped me when my glasses broke. Now that they have a book, they need to leave me alone and keep their noses out of my business.
The old miller
He was a pleasant fellow. Not really. He offered me salted rocks. What in the world? Why is everyone on the darn mountain so uncivilized. My adventure left me with failure and the pleasantness of being feasted on by lice. My mother found me a job; it required I collected some mountain songs so I decided to ask this uncivilized fellow. What a major mistake. I sent Luo and Ma on a fools errand to record some songs for me. I was simply astounded when they actually returned with a few songs. Unsurprisingly, they brought back useless, smutty rhymes. They then demanded to be rewarded with books for this drivel. They had the gall to spit in my face and call that trash worth something. Needless to say I was enraged and Ma ended up giving me a bloody nose in our little spar. Ma needs to get away from me and stop interfering with my business.
The Celebration: I get to go home
Finally, I’m leaving this god forsaken, uncultured mountain. These incessant fools have no technology and no reasonable trace of civility. Luo and Ma were fools to believe I actually respected them. I was just using them to get back to the city, back to civilization. The highlight of my departure was when I, along with a few villagers shoved that filthy beast off the mountain into jagged rocks. Slicing its throat gave me a warm feeling inside but I showed deep respect for this animal that has wronged me. I loathed the animal for breaking my glasses, rendering me weak and defenseless in the face of those two blubbering nitwits.
Following these ancient traditions was inherently stupid. I found myself forced to drink the congealed blood of this mess of an animal. Back to the celebration. It was rather festive and I enjoyed my time for quite a while. The food had a delicious aroma but the entire time, my stomach was wrought with discomfort from eating the blood. It makes me sick just thinking about it. I endured it for a while… My mother bought the service of five sorceresses and they did a little dance of nonsense, warding away demons and such. One of the old hags read my left hand and blabbered on about it. I couldn’t quite make out what she was saying because she was spitting right and left and her pronunciation was hindered by her old, rotting teeth. The rest of the banquet was rather uneventful… until the blood of the buffalo got revenge…
This mountain sucks.
Theifs
I can finally go home... of course without my briefcase. I have a stinking suspicion that those blubbering fools have stolen my books. Do I care? Not really. I just escaped this life of misery. And to top it off, I decreased their chances of leaving to two in one thousand. Have fun my friends.
Goodbye stupid mountain
Mao. What are you doing? Reeducation has left me tired of your crap. You wont be able to force me into such a conforming job such as manual labor. What in the world would those uncultured swine even teach me? Your plan backfired. I did not learn a single lesson on that mountain. It was me who taught others culture with banned sophisticated texts. Thank you so much for the experience. The knowledge I have acquired will surely help me later on in life. Just kidding.
~1969
Credits:
Created with images by Simon Shek - "Homework" • vuralyavas - "justice law case"