As dusk fell, a sudden chill gripped her. Looking around, the sky felt like a massive pot looming over the landscape, with identical dunes stretching in every direction. She had entered following a dry riverbed, but now the path was gone, and she had lost all sense of direction. As she hesitated, the temperature plummeted by over 30 degrees Celsius, turning the heat into an icy void, while she wore nothing but denim shorts and a tank top!
Survival instinct suppressed her fear. She dared not move, knowing her only hope was to build a fire before freezing to death. In the desert, there was only one type of fern called Camel Thorn. She dug frantically with her knife, her hands becoming bloodied by thorns. After gathering a pile, she struggled to light it, finally using a towel as a wick to ignite the vegetation. Holding her knife, she tended the fire while constantly searching for more fuel, never allowing herself to relax.
As dawn approached, two seniors found her following the light. They scolded her: "You silly girl! Do you know there are wolves in the desert? Do you know dunes shift? Do you know about sandstorms or the extreme 30-degree temperature swings?" Faced with these unknown dangers, she could only shake her head in pale terror.
"Didn't you say you brought a flashlight? Did it help?" She suddenly realized the flashlight was still in her bag, unused. She had ventured into the desert relying on that flashlight, yet in her moment of crisis, it was the fire—not the light—that saved her. It felt absurd, but thankfully, she survived.
You might not guess that this reckless young girl was Yu Dan. Watching her recount this adventure on television years later, I couldn't help but smile. But the story was far from over.
After completing her master's degree, Yu Dan was assigned to Liucun, a remote and harsh environment. Facing an uncertain future, she once felt deeply discouraged and lost.
One day, she received a mysterious letter with no sender or recipient, only a single sentence: "I am not afraid of anything; I have my flashlight!" It was from her senior. Years later, she realized that the flashlight wasn't for lighting the way, but for providing the courage to face the unknown. She regained her spirit: "If I can survive the desert, Liucun is nothing to fear!"
Otherwise, the woman lecturing on the Analects on CCTV's *Lecture Room* might not have been Yu Dan.
In fact, taking the first step isn't difficult; the challenge lies in having the courage to actually take it.
