The Salvation of a Down Jacket

Zhang Qiang was a standard office worker. He got up at seven o'clock every morning, squeezed into the subway, clocked in, and started his repetitive and tedious day. His life was like the black down jacket he had worn for three years: ordinary, practical, but unremarkable.

This day, Zhang Qiang was waiting for the commuter bus near the subway entrance, as usual. Suddenly, a scream came from the crowd. A pregnant woman clutched her stomach and bent over in pain.

Everyone around was stunned, at a loss. Only Zhang Qiang, as if driven by something, unhesitatingly took off his down jacket and spread it on the ground.

"Come on, lie down on it!" he said nervously.

With the help of the crowd, the pregnant woman lay on the down jacket. Then, the cry of a baby broke the silence of the morning.

Zhang Qiang was stunned. He hadn't expected his down jacket to become the cradle of a life.

He felt a strange excitement and pride, a feeling he had never experienced from clocking in at work every day. He even felt that this down jacket he was wearing suddenly had meaning.

The ambulance arrived soon and took the pregnant woman and the baby to the hospital. Zhang Qiang silently put on his down jacket, which was stained with a little blood, and continued to go to the company.

He felt that he had done something great. He looked forward to his colleagues' praise and his boss's commendation.

However, when he walked into the office, he found everything was the same. No one noticed the abnormality of his clothes, and no one expressed any concern for him.

"Zhang Qiang, you are three minutes late. You will not receive the full attendance bonus this month," the manager's cold voice came.

Zhang Qiang was stunned. He had forgotten that he was delayed because of saving someone. He had forgotten how great a thing he had done. In the face of the company's system, everything seemed insignificant.

He silently returned to his workstation and started his day's work.

It was not until lunchtime that he heard his colleagues discussing what happened at the subway entrance in the morning.

"I heard it was a pregnant woman, who gave birth on the ground, it's so pitiful," one colleague said.

"Yes, luckily someone helped, otherwise it would have been troublesome," another colleague echoed.

Zhang Qiang listened silently, wanting to tell them that he was the one who "helped," but the words came to his lips and then he swallowed them back. He felt like an invisible person. His good deed, like that blood-stained down jacket, was forgotten in a corner.

Zhang Qiang suddenly felt very tired. He took off his down jacket and threw it on the chair like a piece of waste cloth. This down jacket, which had just symbolized the salvation of life, now became so ordinary and cold.

He thought, maybe this is the truth of his life. Under the gears of the system, personal kindness is just insignificant dust.

When he got off work, Zhang Qiang found that his down jacket was gone. His colleagues told him that the cleaning lady in the morning had thought it was dirty clothes and had thrown it into the trash can.

Zhang Qiang looked at the empty chair, and suddenly felt that he, too, had been thrown into the trash can.