YuHeng's blog

Reading Mary Oliver's Invitation: 
the last line which references Rilke, reads: you must change your life

If out of nowhere, I just quoted this, and compared it to ” you must change your life”– Rilke, the difference is that one is from a random Instagram influencer, while the other is a German poet. So which one do I trust more? Probably the first one. Because that’s all I see. It’s on Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, X, whatever you can think of. Probably a poster in a washroom too. They–the influencers–are everywhere. Or they–the ones who wish to profit from them–are everywhere. We are just branches on a tree, extending relations among relations, even down to the very bottom of the roots. So, while dining at a local, suburban restaurant, we might suddenly stay encouraged due to the awkward but hopeful encounter of the bathroom poster. It aligns with our vision, the owners would say. Then, maybe you feel “happy” here and would most likely recommend this place to another person. Or even better, you’d just come back again and bring your friends. Well, have you dined with us before? Oh! why yes, I have, I really enjoyed the wine that you brought me. Oh! how wonderful. I have another bottle just in today from France that I’ll have you and all your friends have a taste.” Well, that dinner just suddenly got even better, not to mention the generous tip. So, you say, how do I know whether there’s an influencer next to me? I don’t. I don’t need to know something when its all around me. And this is how, I think, we slowly begin to forget the poet.