In her generation, being a woman was extremely difficult, especially rural women who were busy year-round, working in the fields while managing the home. In their spare time, they would do handicrafts to earn a little income to buy clothes and snacks for their children, sometimes so tired they couldn’t even cry. Therefore, mother hoped her daughters would suffer in this life, and in the next life, they should definitely be born as men, because men only needed to work in the fields, and after finishing, could sit with crossed legs waiting to eat and sleep, doing nothing.
Men didn’t need to stand in cold streams at 4 AM washing clothes, cook breakfast at 5, feed pigs and chickens, get dirty preparing three meals, follow their husbands to the fields, especially when there was no money to buy gas stoves, and they could only cook using traditional stoves…
Mother believed being a woman was an unfortunate fate, so she didn’t allow her daughters to pierce their ears, hoping her children would be born male in their next life.
So, to this day, we three sisters still have no ear piercings, fortunately avoiding the fate of rotting ears, never experiencing the feeling of having our ear lobes pierced by a needle (and I absolutely do not regret this).
Nowadays, ear piercing techniques are said to be painless, hygienic, and safe, but I still maintain the integrity of my ears.
On one hand, I’m afraid of pain (purely remembering the wails of childhood companions), and on the other, because of mother’s expectations. I dare not harm what I’ve inherited; moreover, I’ve never liked any decorative items without practical use, so I would never pierce two holes to place some shiny things.
At six years old, I left behind this small memory, and for some reason, I remember it vividly to this day. The only thing I can’t understand is why I thought piercing ears would make me look like a fairy descending to earth?
It’s just two holes. Fortunately, I never pierced them. Harming one’s body is certainly not something to be praised, and being as pain-averse as I am, this is my guiding principle.
