Lines from the Alley
English

20 / 20 · 12 panels

A Way Across

Panel 1
Construction had closed the path to the river.
Panel 2
Jian and Doyun stopped their handcart.
Panel 3
Doyun asked two people in work clothes, “Which way can we go around?”
Panel 4
One of them noticed Jian’s apron. “Do you still work around here?”
Panel 5
The other said, “I moved my workshop out of the neighborhood.”
Panel 6
“Do you think staying here will change things?”
Panel 7
They pointed to a footbridge in the distance.
Panel 8
Doyun came back and told Jian what they had said.
Panel 9
Jian watched neighbors turn back at the barrier.
Panel 10
Jian and Doyun took the detour by the footbridge and marked the route they had walked.
Panel 11
They put up a temporary detour map outside the workshop.
Panel 12
A neighbor looked at the map and drew in another route.

Last episode of season one

Source and notes

Original text
子路行以吿，夫子憮然曰：「鳥獸不可與同群！吾非斯人之徒與而誰與？天下有道，丘不與易也。」
Read the source · 十八之六
Meaning
Confucius sends Zilu to ask where to ford the river. Zilu meets Changju and Jieni plowing, and Jieni urges him to withdraw from the world. When Zilu reports back, Confucius says that people cannot live in a flock of birds or a herd of beasts, so he must live among other people. If the world already followed the Way, he says, he would not be trying to change it.
Modern adaptation
The search for a ford becomes a detour around a riverside path closed for construction. Jian and Doyun cannot reopen the path themselves, but they can share the route they have walked.
Takeaway
If you choose to stay, you can start by finding one small thing to do with others.
Today’s question
When you have to decide whether to leave or stay, what matters most to you?