40 Years of "Little Sisters of Heroic Prairie"
——Written on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the naming of "Little Sisters of Heroic Prairie"
Our reporter He Wenzhong
Forty years ago, the "Little Heroic Sisters of the Grassland" - Long Mei and Yurong fought desperately against the blizzard to protect the collective sheep, composing a heroic hymn with their blood and lives. Their deeds spread from the grasslands of Inner Mongolia to the north and south of the Yangtze River. Their stories have been made into movies, staged, composed into songs, and written into textbooks... 40 years have passed, and the little heroes of that year have now reached the age of knowing their destiny. They have always They did not leave the grassland where they were born and raised. They regarded themselves as ordinary people and worked silently on the grassland of Inner Mongolia. Not long ago, a reporter made a special trip to interview Long Mei and Yurong with their childhood memories. /p>
Long Mei: "To be honest, we were young at the time and couldn't think too much. We only had one belief, don't let the collective sheep lose a single one. ”
My elder sister, Long Mei, joined the army in 1970. After changing her career, she worked in the Damao Banner Youth League Committee, Baotou Donghe District Youth League Committee, and the National People’s Congress. She is currently the chairman of the CPPCC Donghe District, Baotou City. Politically and ideologically, she has The mature Long Mei recalled to us a thrilling scene that happened on the Maoming'an grassland in Darhan, Inner Mongolia:
It was February 9, 1964 (the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month), the eve of the Spring Festival. During the freezing season of the Saibei grassland, I was only 11 years old and my sister was only 9 years old. We were driving the commune’s 384 sheep to graze on the grassland. At noon, the sky suddenly darkened and a rare northwest wind blew. A blizzard hit the grassland, and the temperature immediately dropped to minus 37 degrees. The sheep scattered in panic and began to run along the increasingly fierce northwest wind. My sister and I thought that the only way to avoid this situation was to gather the sheep and run with them. They were swallowed up by the blizzard, so the two of us tried our best to gather the fleeing sheep. In fact, we had the opportunity and time to leave the sheep and run back to find our father to come to our rescue. However, my sister and I kept it in mind. What Abba usually says: "Sheep are the collective property and the lifeblood of the collective. You can't throw away any of them!" "Just like that, the two of us ran one after another, running and blocking.
It was getting dark gradually, and the snow was already very thick. We were really tired at that time, it was nearly 40 degrees below zero. In the severe cold, our footsteps became heavier and heavier, and every step forward was very difficult. The sheep were still running, and we couldn't stop. We continued like this until the sky gradually dawned, the cold wind was still strong, and the snow was deep. One foot. We had run more than 30 kilometers and arrived near Baiyun Obo Station. My sister had exhausted her last bit of energy and collapsed on the snow. I dragged her to a big rock to shelter from the wind. I gathered the sheep and walked towards the station. My eyes were already black and I could no longer hold on. At this moment, Haschaolu and his son Naren Mandula, the uncle of our brigade who came to see off a friend at the station, were the first to notice me. , and then together with several railway workers, they rescued my sister and me. On the afternoon of February 10, we were sent to the Baotou Iron Mine Hospital.
I lost my left toe due to severe frostbite. My sister's right leg was amputated below the knee joint and her left leg below the ankle joint, resulting in lifelong disability. However, only 3 of the 384 sheep we herded froze to death, and the rest were safe.
The deeds of the two are actually very ordinary and ordinary. There are many such deeds in pastoral areas, and we are just one of them. To be honest, we were young at the time and could not think of much. We only had one belief: Don’t let the collective sheep be lost. One. It was this belief that supported us sisters fighting for a whole day and night in the snowstorm.
Yu Rong: "In fact, heroes are also ordinary people. Heroes just do one or more things when the people need it. This is something that is beneficial to the people and something that should be done. ”
My younger sister, Yurong, graduated from Inner Mongolia Normal University in 1976. She has worked in the Youth League Committee of the Ulanqab League, the Education Bureau, and the Inner Mongolia Disabled Persons’ Federation. She is currently the deputy director of the General Office of the CPPCC Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
During the interview, Yurong seemed more relaxed than her sister Long Mei. She dared to think and say:
Forty years ago, my sister Long Mei and I fought a snowstorm all day and night to protect collective property. Named "Little Sisters of Grassland Heroes" by the Party Committee of the Autonomous Region. This is the highest honor given to us by the party and the people, and our growth has received meticulous care from the party and the people.
In the past 40 years, although we sisters have changed jobs many times, we have been able to strictly demand ourselves. We do not regard ourselves as "celebrities". We start from the most ordinary people, do what we do, and love what we do. We sisters know very well that it is the party and the people that have made us what we are today. It is the party and the people who have trained us sisters from children of an ordinary herdsman family to become soldiers, college students, and national cadres, and we have both become leaders. post. Over the past 40 years, our sisters have participated in various model meetings, lectures, and advanced figure representative meetings many times. We have been elected to the 4th and 5th National People's Congress. My sister also participated in the 10th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. He also participated in the 11th and 12th National Congress of the Communist Youth League and the first, second and third congresses of the China Disabled Persons' Federation, and was named a national "self-improvement" model. The autonomous region gives our sisters even more honors, and they don’t even allow us to visit abroad, etc. Faced with so many honors and benefits that ordinary people cannot get, we sisters often ask ourselves, what have we done for the party and the people? Is there any gap between what we have done and the honor given by the party and the people? In fact, heroes are also ordinary people. Heroes just do one or a few things that are beneficial to the people and should be done when the people need them. Heroes are not always brilliant.
Chairman Mao said: "It is not difficult for a person to do some good deeds. What is difficult is to do good deeds and not do bad deeds throughout his life." Although in today's turbulent market economy, in the cross-century era, We still have to say that Chairman Mao’s words are an irrefutable truth. This is what we have thought and done over the past 40 years. If we rest on our laurels and rest on our laurels, we will stagnate and go backwards. Achievements can only explain the past. We deeply understand that the future depends on our own continuous efforts. Only by constantly improving ourselves and doing things that are beneficial to the people throughout our lives can we become a relatively perfect person and worthy of being called a "hero" this title.
Nowadays, some teenagers in society spend all day in Internet cafes, or are addicted to online games, or are obsessed with chasing stars. We are very worried when we see this phenomenon. (At this point, Yu Rong paused and smiled and asked Xiao Xin, a young reporter present: You are also a young man. I wonder if you are chasing "stars"? Everyone laughed.) So, we sisters have one I want to build a patriotism education base in my hometown, Damao Banner. Last year, the two sisters applied to the relevant national departments for the registered trademark "Little Sisters of the Prairie Heroes", and the relevant national departments have accepted our application. In this patriotic education base, we want to tell the majority of young people about our growth experience and the importance and necessity of adhering to cultural and ideological education, and through this form to educate young people on patriotism, collectivism and revolutionary traditions. .
When a reporter asked about the significance of registering the "Little Sisters of Prairie Heroes" trademark, Yurong told reporters: Some people are already making money using our celebrity effect. If we don't register, someone may still produce goods in the name of "Little Sisters of Prairie Heroes". We must protect the honor given by the party and the people and not let it deteriorate.
The pride of the grassland, the pride of the Chinese nation
The charm of heroes is always eternal. No matter which era the heroes are branded with, the spirit and character embodied in them will not weaken with the passage of time, nor will the brilliance of her inner national spirit be obliterated by changes in society. For 40 years, Long Mei and Yu Rong did not regard themselves as "celebrities". They were strict with themselves and never made any demands on the organization. They dedicated and struggled silently in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. After Yu Rong's legs were amputated, although they were equipped with Prosthetic limbs. When the weather gets hot and I sweat, the legs inside the prosthetic limbs will turn white with sweat. During one morning interview, the reporter offered Yurong water twice but was politely declined. She had to endure unimaginable pain.
As for the little-known beautiful stories behind the heroes, whether they are legendary love or a happy marriage and family, they will become past events in the grassland. What we want to promote should be the spirit of the "little heroic sisters of the prairie". Long Mei and Yu Rong walked out of the grassland again and again, and went to various parts of the country to give reports, talk about their experiences, educate and influence two entire generations. This kind of value is probably difficult for even economists to calculate. There is a story in the book "The Reading Lady": In order to let her son learn Chinese, a mother living in the United States told the story of the "little heroic sisters on the prairie". When her son heard that the little sisters were seriously injured by the cold for the government's sheep. , he suddenly asked: "Mom, if they do this, the country will pay them a lot of money, right? Our teacher said that work should be paid." The mother told her son: The best reward is that all children across the country learn this Two little sisters who are heroes of the prairie, can they be bought with money? The son finally understood that there is another kind of job in the world that cannot be calculated as a reward.
The "Little Sisters of Grassland Heroes" are the pride of the Mongolian people, the pride of the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, and the pride of the Chinese nation!
"Tide of the Times" (Issue 11, 2004)