The Red Scarf

"The Red Scarf is a corner of the national flag, dyeing with the blood of martyrs."

On June 1st, 1988, as the first group of honorable young pioneers in the first grade of primary school, the teacher said this to us.

So there was a bloody scene in my mind: There were dye tanks on the ground, and martyrs stood in line. Each martyr walked to the front of the tank, his arm was cut, and blood flowed into the tank. Bandaged when the blood was about to run out, the next martyr was cut and continued to bleed...
Another group of workers has to do the work of cutting the national flag. Each national flag can make three red scarves--see the picture, the upper left corner is not available, because it is not good to cut to that or the people--Finally, the cut flags was put into the dyeing tanks and then dried to make a red scarf.

My imagined red scarf making process

My feeling at the time was:

1. It's so tough to be a martyr, you have to be caught and bleed to make a red scarf when you return from the battlefield.
2. A national flag can only make three red scarves. How many national flags are wasted.
3. But why doesn't the red scarf taste salty?

(It wasn't until the fifth grade of primary school that I knew this production process in my head was ridiculous. Please don't laugh at me, I believe many people have the same memories.)

On the day I joined the Young Pioneers, I solemnly raised my right fist and sworn... it seemed like destroy the enemy or something... now I can't remember. In short, my heart was full of blood at the time, and I felt that as the best child I should always be ready to find a dark force and perish with it together.

I dreamed of being a flag-raiser at the flag-raising ceremony on Monday, wearing a red scarf and watching the flag rise in my hands. That was my glorious dream in childhood. Maybe I can't get the first place in the exam every time, so I haven't realized this dream.

The second year after joining the Young Pioneers, on the first anniversary, something big happened in the country. I still vaguely remember it, although few people have mentioned it for so many years. The TV said that the older brothers and sisters did n’t study hard, thought about abominable capitalism every day, and atrocities against soldier uncles. In front of the TV, I clenched my fists in anger. Did these brothers and sisters forget the life the country gave them? They have all been used by foreign reactionary forces! I am ashamed of them. I must be a good boy of motherland, study hard every day, and fight against reactionary forces.

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Later I went to junior school. This time I actively filled the application for joining the Communist Youth League. I heard that it was an upgraded version of the Young Pioneers. How can a good boy not actively?

The teacher saw my excellent grades and class performance--although I was naughty in my back ground, decided to let me join the league for the first batch. So I got a league certificate. Since then, I have been upgraded to the glorious Communist Youth League.

However, there seems to be no ceremonyfor joining the league in my memory, even the member certificate was not returned to me after being taken away, and the records were not fully recorded. Alas, some comrades neglected their duties and did not seriously do the management of the Communist Youth League. This great boy with a red heart really wants to take the initiative to apply for the management of the league. However, the time was spent on "Contra" and "Life Force", and there was no extra time to do it. Another little selfishness is, do I have to pay more money for the league when I become a manager?

As a junior school student, there is no need to wear a red scarf. I'm sad for this for a long time. Looking some classmates wearing suits and ties, I accuse them, why they imitate the decadent lifestyle of the capitalism? They are fallen!

Politics lesson have also begun in junior school, and I am so happy that I can learn how to be a better member of the league. But things did not go as expected, my political lesson scores were often around 60, and occasionally I failed, I don't know why. Maybe I don't really understand what communism is?

Later, I understood what "political face" means in the form. I'm a member of the league, and I'm a superior than others.

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By 1997, four things had happened this year.

First, I was admitted to a key high school. However, there is no corresponding "advanced league member", but the political lesson is even more difficult to understand. I don't remember the specific content now, anyway, the number of failures is far more than the number of passes. My politics failed even in the final college entrance examination.

Classmates casually wear suits and ties, and even have long hair and dare to make girlfriends, I shook my head and sighed: it's over, they're ruined their life. What can these rotten young people do in the future? This is the "Peaceful Evolution theory" that adults said before? What an evil capitalism! Corrupt our teens.

The second thing is that someone who was said to be a designer died. There are a lot of people gongs and drums celebrating, the firecrackers are humming, and the joy is incredible. Being a designer is also tough, I don't know how he feels underground.

A few months later, Hong Kong returned to the motherland. I also stayed up late to watch the handover ceremony. Actually, I wanted to watch the fireworks show outside the window, but unfortunately there were no fireworks that night.

This is the third thing.

The fourth thing in 1997 was that I entered a new world: the Internet.

That year I became interested in computers and started surfing the web. I'm a teenager growing up in the spring breeze, I taught myself basic, telnet, gopher ... I'm coming to the Internet!

Of course, the first target is evil capitalist websites such as Yahoo. I want to see how evil they are! ...

......

......

Unfortunately, I was ignorant when I was young and strayed into the big poisonous hole of the Internet. It got deeper and deeper, and later was sinked into two evil organizations, Wikipedia and Google. Then my great political career ended.

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One day shortly after entering college, the monitor came to me and said he wanted to recommend me to join that evil cult gang. Although I was 20 years old, my mind was still immature, but I always knew how harmful that gang was, and I firmly rejected him. The monitor left with an incomprehensible expression.

His tall and handsome image was immediately destroyed in my sight,  the man who seemed so righteous actually joined that gang.

......

There is nothing to write for the next ten years. I left the Communist Youth League and never participated in a political career. Seeing that the "political face" in each form has become a "ordinary people", this feels good.

Now, it's the anniversary of joining the Young Pioneers that year, and I feel a lot of emotions, one after another. Remember the red scarf that has not been tied for many years, the bloody color.

Unforgettable experiences, write this article. And send an old song, No association thinking allowed.