Keywords: keep promise, keep promise

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There is a saying that people who keep their word will always be praised, such as Lu Bu who keeps his word. If you finish listening to Kong, you may be surprised: what you said will be fulfilled, and what you do will be rewarded.

What you said is true, and what you did is true. This is actually a villain.

Of course, it is necessary to explain the meaning of "villain" here. Nowadays, "villains" mostly refer to people with moral corruption, and "gentlemen" refer to people with noble morality, but in ancient times, "villains" refer to civilians and "gentlemen" refer to nobles. For example, in the Water Margin, ordinary people like Xiao Er and bartender all call themselves "villains" in front of the government.

The "villain" in Confucius' mouth refers to ordinary people without great wisdom.

Even if "villain" is not derogatory, his words are true and actions will have results. This is a very good quality. Why do you say that only ordinary people do this? In fact, there is an implicit premise: the content of "words" is correct and the direction of "lines" is accurate.

You must do what you promised others, but what if it is wrong? Actions must bear fruit. What if the direction of action is wrong? Even if the original idea is indeed correct, if we persist in the original idea regardless of the changes in the environment, it is tantamount to carving a boat for a sword, and it is really unwise.

In this case, "keeping your word" is also called "one-track mind", and "doing what you want" is also called "never looking back until you reach the south wall"

Zhuangzi Stole Feet tells a sad love story: Weisheng lives under a beam (bridge) with a woman, but the woman didn't come and the water couldn't walk, so she clung to the beam. "Micro-life and the right girl met on the bridge. The girl didn't come, but the flood came. Weisheng insisted on the agreement with the girl and refused to leave. Finally, she was drowned.

Many people were moved by Wei Sheng's behavior and praised his honesty. But in my opinion, this is no different from a fool carving a boat for a sword. I have paid the price of my life, but those who pay a huge price may not be worthy of praise-the price paid is huge, perhaps just because of stupidity. What's more, micro-life's trustworthiness doesn't mean anything, just to keep it, regardless of the changes in the surrounding environment.

Wei Sheng didn't understand that the purpose of his meeting with that girl was to grow old with her, and his life was gone. How can he grow old with her?

If the trustworthy object becomes the boss, it is likely to become "stupid loyalty." Master Wen Taishi in The List of Gods is such a tragic hero. Master Wen, as a veteran of the three dynasties, has been devoted to the Shang Dynasty. He is honest, although he knows that Zhou Wang is dissolute, but at the same time, he is also a minister entrusted to orphans. He made an oath before the former king, making him the biggest villain in the early days of the list of gods, and finally died in Juelongling on the way to the Western Expedition.

Master Wen's ending makes people cry, and at the same time, we also have a question: Should we keep our word?

The essence of trustworthiness is consistency, and what you say and do are consistent. However, the external environment is constantly changing. If it is consistent, it may become a boat and a sword, and it cannot flexibly cope with change. More advanced than keeping your promise is the principle, abide by your principles.

The principle is abstract and the environment is concrete. The same principle behaves differently in different environments. Just like water is solid below 0℃, liquid between 0℃ and 100℃, and gaseous above 100℃, although the state is different, they are all water, and the chemical formula is H2O.

My girlfriend and I are in different places. I am in Chongqing and she is in Shenyang, which is 2400 kilometers apart. I wanted to visit her in Shenyang during the holiday, but I gave up the idea the next day. Meeting in Shenyang is to shorten the physical distance and alleviate the suffering of lovesickness; I won't go to Shenyang for fear of disturbing her to review for the exam. Although the idea is completely opposite, the principle remains the same: I love her. Between credit and principle, I choose the latter. I think I'm much better than weisheng. By the way, I finally decided to go to Shenyang, because she is in a good review state and will not affect the review plan.

If my story can't convince you, then let's see how the cattle people do it. Many famous people in history, on the surface, are dishonest, even duplicitous and unpredictable, but if you abstract their behavior, you can find the inner principle of their behavior.

Confucius, a great educator, gave the opposite answer to the same question.

One day, his student Luz asked him, "Teacher, if I hear the right idea, should I do it at once?" Confucius replied, ask your father and brother before you make a decision. After leaving, Ran asked Confucius, Teacher, I heard the right idea. Should I do it at once? Confucius said, do it at once. Gong Xihua saw that Confucius had the opposite answer to the same question and asked Confucius why. Confucius laughed and Lutz was reckless, so I asked him to listen to other people's opinions before making a decision. Ran hesitated, so I encouraged him to act decisively.

Confucius' principle is to teach students in accordance with their aptitude. For students with different personality characteristics, the answer is of course different.

Xiao He, a famous figure in the Han Dynasty, greatly appreciated Han Xin's talent. He recommended Han Xin to Liu Bang many times, even though he was not reused in Han Xin. When he was about to leave Liu Bang, Xiao He personally rode a horse to catch up with Han Xin overnight and made a wish to his officials. This is the story of Xiao He chasing Han Xin under the moon.

However, there is another idiom that you must have heard: success is Xiao He, and failure is Xiao He. Han Xin never imagined that it was this year that Xiao He, who strongly recommended himself, made a suicide suggestion to Lv Hou.

This is not because Xiao He has no credit, but because Xiao He has a principle: to assist the Han family. So Xiao He will recommend Han Xin because of his talent, and will kill him because of Han Xin's rebellion.

It is better to abide by the rules than to keep the promise. How can we polish our principles?

The so-called principle is actually what you think is the most important. Always ask yourself, what is more important, what is the most important, plus the time dimension, what is not important now but will be important later, and what is important now but will not be important later.

The grinding principle is not easy. It will take some time. Don't worry. Take my writing as an example. It took me half a year to find my own writing principles.

At first, I wrote to attend the teacher's writing class. In order to motivate us to write, there is a requirement in the first writing class that we can only participate after writing three articles. For class, I scribbled three articles to make up the number.

In the course of class, I learned the importance of writing, such as realizing wealth freedom. This is very tempting for me, and it can also be the motivation for my initial writing.

Later, I saw the method of polishing the above principles in Teacher Lai's column. I kept asking myself, what does writing mean to me? Is it to make money, or more important?

Finally, I found the most important reason: writing words that inspire the world through my own thinking. This sentence came to my mind, and I seemed to see a beam of light, tears swirling in my eyes, and I was very excited. I still remember that feeling.

Do you want to be a trustworthy villain or a principled gentleman?