一片落叶的飘落，不会立刻改变森林的色彩，但它已无声宣告：季节正在转身。同样，一个又一个细小而平凡的现象，正预示着整个社会气候的悄然变迁。

　　如今，中国年轻人群体正在经历一场悄无声息的集体沉沦。越来越多的青年，放弃了对传统意义上”体面”工作的追逐，不得不涌向外卖、快递、保安、仓储等低保障、重体力的岗位。他们并不是因为不努力，不是因为不优秀，而是因为真正的向上通道已经在不知不觉中塌陷了。所谓的公平竞争和社会流动，已成为一纸空谈；那些应由制度提供的公平起跑线，早已在权力寻租与社会分层中被撕得粉碎。寒门不仅再难出贵子，就连生存本身也变得步履维艰。

　　本可以创造希望的一代人，却被迫承接了上一代人埋下的恶果。正如文革的浩劫撕裂了信仰、道德与理性，造成的文化断层与精神废墟，至今未曾真正修复。而那场浩劫的代价，如今正由无辜的子孙后代在一笔笔偿还。

　　更可悲的是，这一切的“始作俑者”，即那个“伟大的、正确的、唯我独尊的利益集团”并不愿承担责任。他们熟练地把所有内部的问题包装成外部威胁，把自身的失败归咎于所谓“美国打压”、“外部大环境恶化”。这种说辞，不过是惯用的转移话术，是对自己无能与权力贪婪的掩盖。真正令国家沉沦的，恰恰是这个唯利是图、毫无信仰和底线的集团，是它践踏了中陆同胞追求自由民主的尊严，对道德秩序的破坏，对真理的嘲弄，对人民苦难的冷漠。

　　文革长达十年浩劫断裂的一课，在三年疫情中再次上演了一场缩小版的全民“顺从性”测试。在那场席卷全国的灾难中，集团以”抗疫”的名义重演了文革式的极端控制、个人崇拜、信息封锁、思想禁锢和道德反转。封城、隔离、清零，不仅摧毁了经济，也打碎了人们对人与人之间最基本的信任，摧毁了人们追求自由的最后一片土壤。最终收获的，不过是少数人的权力巩固与利益收割，代价则由亿万普通百姓来承担。从疫苗研发、生产、强迫人民“自愿接受”注射，到核酸检测周期逐步缩减为一天两次，再到行程码等系统锁定人们活动轨迹等等，无不是在将人的尊严和自由一次次的踩扁、碾压。

　　这一切都不是偶然。当年犹太人在彼拉多面前高喊“把他钉在十字架上”的时候，他们也曾发出过这样一句充满诅咒的话：

众人都回答说：“他的血归到我们和我们的子孙身上。”——《马太福音》27:25

And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.” —(Matthew 27:25 NKJV)

　　历史似乎总是惊人地相似。今日的中国社会里那些年轻人表现出的“不正常现象”，正是他们承担着上一代人无知、狂热、麻木与自私的全部后果。

　　正如秋天不会因为一两片落叶而来得更快，但当满地枯黄铺展开来的时候，人们终将无法再自欺欺人。就如同有人说：如果发现一个不正常的孩子，千万不要试图和他父母去沟通，因为你会发现，他们全家，病得最轻的就是孩子了。家庭如此，体制内的公司如此，一个国家亦是如此，当年轻人集体沉沦时，不是年轻人先腐败，而是整个家庭教育、社会舆论、集体文化与利益集团早已腐烂，且不断将那些腐臭作风传给了下一代和下一代的下一代，今天的年轻人不过是最无力掩饰的那一环。

　　因此，必须清醒地看到，每一层次的责任：

• 个人，在面对不公与谎言时，是否保有了基本的良知与思考？
• 家长，在教养子女时，是否传递了自由、正义与尊严的信念？
• 集体，在利益诱惑下，是否选择了沉默、合谋甚至助纣为虐？
• 政权，在掌握权力之后，是否践踏了本该守护的公平、理性与信仰？

　　没有哪一环可以免责。正是这一环环的责任缺失，才最终编织成了今日令人窒息的社会气候。

　　落叶知秋。年轻人一片片地从希望的枝头坠落，沉默地飘向底层的岗位；而社会上层却依然在粉饰太平，推卸责任。真正觉醒的人，已经能在这些无声的变化中，感受到深层的寒意——寒冬将至，而罪已深重。

　　没有人可以逃脱，唯有回转向神。

~~~*~~~

What Does a Falling Leaf Foretell?

The falling of a single leaf does not immediately change the color of the forest, yet it silently announces that the season is turning.
Likewise, one after another, those seemingly minor and ordinary phenomena are quietly heralding a profound shift in the climate of society.

Today, China’s younger generation is undergoing a silent collective decline.
More and more young people have given up chasing after what were once considered “decent” jobs and are forced to flood into low-security, labor-intensive occupations such as food delivery, courier services, security work, and warehousing.
It is not because they are lazy, nor because they are incapable, but because the real avenues for upward mobility have quietly collapsed.
The so-called fair competition and social mobility have become empty slogans; the starting lines that were supposed to be provided by the system have long been torn apart by rent-seeking and stratification.
For children from humble backgrounds, not only has it become nearly impossible to rise, but even the basic act of survival has become an arduous struggle.

A generation that could have created hope has instead been forced to inherit the poisonous fruits sown by the previous one.
Just as the havoc of the Cultural Revolution tore apart faith, morality, and reason—leaving behind a chasm of culture and a wasteland of spirit that has never been truly repaired—the cost of that catastrophe is now being paid, installment by installment, by innocent descendants.

What is even more tragic is that the original perpetrators—the so-called “great, correct, and uniquely superior interest group”—are unwilling to bear any responsibility.
They skillfully package all internal problems as external threats, blaming their own failures on “American suppression” and “adverse global environments.”
Such rhetoric is nothing but a habitual tactic of deflection, a cover for their own incompetence and insatiable greed for power.
What is truly dragging the nation into decline is not any foreign force, but this profit-driven, faithless, and morally bankrupt ruling group itself—those who have trampled on the dignity of Chinese people striving for freedom and democracy, those who have destroyed moral order, mocked truth, and shown cold indifference to the suffering of the people.

The lesson left incomplete by the decade-long catastrophe of the Cultural Revolution was replayed during the three years of the pandemic—a miniature nationwide “obedience test.”
In that disaster that swept across the country, the ruling group, under the banner of “pandemic control,” reenacted extreme control, personality cults, information blockade, ideological imprisonment, and moral inversion reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution.
Lockdowns, isolation, and the draconian “zero-COVID” policies not only wrecked the economy but shattered the basic trust between individuals, destroying the last soil in which the pursuit of freedom could take root.
In the end, what was harvested was merely the consolidation of power and profit for a small minority, while the cost was borne by hundreds of millions of ordinary citizens.

From vaccine development, production, and the coercion of people into “voluntary” injections, to the shortening of the COVID testing cycles to twice a day, to health codes and travel surveillance systems locking down people’s every movement—every step was another crushing blow against human dignity and freedom.

None of this happened by accident.
When the Jewish crowd stood before Pontius Pilate and demanded the crucifixion of Jesus, they uttered these chilling words:

“His blood be on us and on our children.”
— Matthew 27:25 (NKJV)

History often repeats itself in eerily similar ways.
The “abnormal phenomena” displayed by the youth in today’s Chinese society are nothing more than the consequences of the ignorance, fanaticism, numbness, and selfishness of the preceding generations.

Just as autumn does not arrive faster because of one or two falling leaves, yet when fallen leaves blanket the ground, no one can deceive themselves any longer.
As someone once said:

“If you discover a child who seems troubled, never attempt to reason with their parents—for you will soon find that the child is actually the least broken among them.”

It is the same for families, for companies trapped within rigid systems, and for nations as well.
When an entire generation of youth sinks into despair, it is not because the youth have corrupted first, but because family education, social discourse, collective culture, and the ruling interest groups had already rotted long ago—steadily transmitting that corruption to one generation after another.
Today’s young people are merely the ones least able to disguise the inherited decay.

Thus, we must soberly recognize the missing responsibilities at every level:

• Individuals—When facing injustice and lies, have they retained basic conscience and critical thinking?
• Parents—In raising their children, have they instilled a belief in freedom, justice, and human dignity?
• The collective—When tempted by profit, have they chosen silence, collusion, or even aiding and abetting evil?
• The regime—When wielding power, have they trampled upon the fairness, rationality, and faith they were supposed to protect?

No one is exempt from responsibility.
It is precisely the abandonment of responsibility at every level that has woven the suffocating social atmosphere we live in today.

A falling leaf foretells the coming of autumn.
One after another, the youth are falling from the branches of hope, silently drifting down into the lowest strata, while the upper echelons of society continue to whitewash the truth and shift the blame.
Those who are truly awake can already sense the deep chill embedded in these silent transformations—

Winter is coming, and the sins are grievous.

No one can escape.
Only by turning back to God is there a way out.