Last week we had a one-day weekend. I thought I could lie in in the morning to compensate for the sleep debt I had accumulated over the past week.

Early in the morning, to my annoyance, I was disturbed by some noise coming from outside. In the beginning, it sounded as if someone were sawing wooden boards. It grated on my ears. As the noise was going on, I made out a little tune. I got up and looked out of the window.

There he was. An elderly man was playing erhu alone in the yard. Obviously, he was practising on the Chinese musical instrument. No audience around, he was lost in his world. That morning the noise went on and off for about two hours. Thus, my plan to catch up on sleep failed.

This week I went back home for Qingming, Tomb Sweeping Day. The old guy was still practising his skills in the morning. Things had changed, though. Instead of making noise, he was playing a complete tune, which was quite pleasant on the ear. I bet he must have practised very hard in the past four days.

There were still some flaws in his performance, but looking back on the progress he had made, I could not help but feel great admiration for the elderly gentleman. His perseverance could not have impressed me more.

When we have a goal, we should go all out for it the way the guy did. Perseverance wins. Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.