Chapter 53 Complaint
Before actually coming into contact with the Leader, Erwin was still very awed by the organization and full of expectations.
Through Seraphine's ability, he saw their souls full of light and warmth.
A person with such a beautiful soul cannot be an ordinary person.
But when Erwin followed his daughter to the factory and came to the promotion meeting organized by the Leader, he discovered:
"This is just a bunch of... young people."
Young people are always full of enthusiasm and always want to shine in the front line.
But they lack experience and are naive in their approach, and it is difficult for them to get things done once they get to the front line.
"No wonder Nini likes being with them so much." Alvin secretly glanced at his precious daughter who was immersed in the beautiful soul melody beside him.
In his opinion, when it comes to "naivety", those leaders are not much better than Seraphine.
This is not his intention to hurt others——
The performance of Leader at this first promotional conference was truly appalling.
The promotion meeting started with an introduction to Zaun’s history.
In Levi's words, this is called helping the audience establish the concept of historical materialism.
In order to help the apprentices adapt and understand better, Victor temporarily removed the parts of the article "Where Zaun Came From" that involved specific theories.
No theory or classes, just popular history.
But even so...
"This is quite boring." Erwin couldn't help but comment in his mind.
Compared with his good friend Jayce, although Victor is introverted and not good at public speaking, he is not a socially phobic person who is poor at speaking.
It’s not that his explanation is boring, nor is it that the history itself is boring.
History is something that is naturally boring to most Zaun people.
The people of Zaan don’t even care who their parents are, so how could they care about what happened hundreds of years ago?
If the only purpose was to expose Piltover's dark history to them and let them know about Piltover 's oppression of Zaun... then that would be unnecessary.
The people of Zaun know the evils of Piltover better than anyone else.
They don't need to be taught, they will naturally speak well of the old man in Piltover when they see him.
really……
"Some people are about to fall asleep." Erwin noticed that some of the apprentices in the audience were yawning out of boredom.
They pretended to listen attentively simply because they were attracted by the increased salary and out of gratitude to the leader .
Victor seemed to notice this as well.
He quickly finished his historical research and moved on to the next step:
"Complain?" Erwin thought.
Is this tactic about everyone getting together to drink, chat, and curse the old man of Piltover together?
The people of Zaan have been doing this for more than two hundred years.
This is indeed a good way to enhance cohesion. Although simple, it is practical.
But……
“Is there anyone willing to come up and share his experience?”
"Tell everyone what you have experienced along the way in Zaun and Piltover?"
Victor asked this question on the stage, but almost no one responded.
The air was as dead silent as when the teacher calls on students to answer questions in class.
"This..." There was silence for a while.
Victor realized that the atmosphere at the meeting was not lively at all.
The apprentices are still dreaming of a better life after a salary increase, so why would they want to come forward and talk about those old memories?
It takes courage to publicly reveal your scars.
Some people may feel embarrassed, some may have concerns, and some may not want to recall the painful past...this is all normal.
"We must first create an atmosphere and mobilize emotions before we can carry out the grievance activities." Victor thought.
So how do we create the atmosphere and stir up emotions?
It seems that I can only bring suffering upon myself——
Just find someone who can speak to perform a paragraph first, and give an example to everyone.
"Um, classmate Lina?" Victor invited Lina to the stage.
"Okay!" Lina plucked up her courage and slowly stood in front of everyone.
She brewed her emotions for a while and then began to tell her own experience:
"Like everyone else, I was born in Zaun..."
Grandpa and grandma were long gone. Dad slipped and fell into the furnace, and his body was burned to ash. Mom was injured at work and was bedridden. Because she had no money for treatment and could not bear the pain, she finally forced her and her brother to cut her neck with a knife.
The brother and sister wanted to dig a grave to bury their mother, but the body was taken away by their uncle and sold in an alchemy shop.
After that, Levi was determined to take his sister away from Zaun, so he worked hard in Zaun's shops, mines and factories at a young age... Later, his uncle wanted to sell the grown-up brother and sister to a brothel. They killed their uncle and exchanged his body for money, and finally raised enough money to come to Piltover as apprentices.
…
Are these experiences painful? Yes, they are.
So the atmosphere on the scene finally gradually changed.
Everyone, to a greater or lesser extent, thought of the pain they had experienced.
The method of using suffering to induce suffering and inspire memories seems to be starting to work.
But……
"Then I was admitted to Piltover University..."
From the moment Lina started talking here, the atmosphere changed again.
"Huh——" The audience all breathed a sigh of relief.
It was like after a long and desperate voyage, one finally saw a continent in the vast ocean where one could stand.
Everyone's mood relaxed at once and the atmosphere became much more relaxed.
"See, we should learn from her... She persisted in studying under such difficult circumstances and was admitted to Piltover University."
"I gave up too early and didn't persevere, so I could only be an apprentice... Alas!"
Some apprentices sighed with envy and regret.
Although this kind of thinking is also quite positive.
Never give up in the face of adversity, keep working hard and improving yourself, and strangle the throat of fate with your own hands... This spirit is indeed worth learning for everyone.
but……
"How did this turn into a motivational speech?" Victor held his forehead helplessly.
He obviously wanted Lina to go up and complain so that everyone would resonate with her.
As a result, it turned into a motivational lecture and a cliché speech to motivate everyone.
"No, that's not right..."
"This is not Lena's problem."
Victor soon discovered with even more frustration that this was a common problem among these Zaun students.
Because each of them is a gifted child who has overcome countless hardships and obstacles, crawled out of the hell of Zaun through his own efforts and struggles, and was admitted to Piltover University.
Each of them is a fighter, a winner, and a survivor behind the single-plank bridge.
Their experiences do not need any embellishment at all; they can be turned into a perfect inspirational essay "Praising Suffering".
Letting these inspirational role models who have touched Zuan come out and share their experiences, isn't that just a motivational lecture?
Although these Piltover University students are all from Zaun, their status and position are actually far higher than that of ordinary Zaun people from the moment they entered the university.
If we ask them to complain, it would probably be difficult for the workers to empathize with them.
"Lina, please come down first..."
Victor thought about it and decided that he had to find someone among the apprentices to complain to.
So he chose someone from the audience at random, regardless of whether they were willing or not:
“Please go up and share your experiences with everyone.”
“Um… OK.” Since his name had been called, the apprentice couldn’t refuse.
He walked onto the stage somewhat nervously, and under Victor's encouraging gaze, he stammered out his experience.
There is no need to introduce the specific content.
The past of the people of Zaan has never been tragic.
This apprentice's experience sounds even worse than Lina's.
"It should work this time..." Victor hoped secretly.
He was thinking this when he saw the apprentice saying:
"Thank you Mr. Erwin! Thank you Professor Victor!"
"You saved me from that desperate life—"
"I will definitely treat the factory as my home, sacrifice my own family for the sake of everyone, bravely shoulder responsibilities, work hard... and shed my last drop of sweat for Mr. Erwin and everyone at Leader!"
Victor: “…”
