Wisdom of Confucius
“If there is nothing that man loves more than life, then does he not permit himself to do anything in order to save it? And if there is nothing that man hates more than death, then why does he not always avoid dangers that could be avoided? And so there are times when a man would forsake his life, and there are when a man would not avoid danger. It is not only the good men who have this feeling that there are times when they would forsake life and there are time when they would not avoid danger. All men have this feeling, only the good men have been able to preserve it. A man’s life or death may sometimes depend on a bamboo basket of rice and a bowl of soup, but if you say to a starving man passing by, “Hey, mister!” and offer them to him in the most insulting manner, he would refuse to take them, or if you offer them to a beggar with a kick, the beggar would not receive them.”
I found this passage to be pretty relatable to when reading it. The portion talks about how the ego of a person and their willpower. The section says, “… there are times when they would forsake life and there are times when they would not avoid danger.” Many times, our ego propels us to things that we wouldn’t usually do and makes us sometimes forget what truly is important to us.
But the story also says that the good man is able to make clear decisions about when the ego should be allowed to take over and make decisions that wouldn’t normally. The example the story tells is one that clearly illustrates what they’re trying to get at, saying a starving man would refuse food if it was presented in an insulting manner.
Sometimes our self-worth, and ego, are things we don’t allow to be broken and to know when you can and can’t give them up leads you to being more of a wiser person.