1. Mencius cited a number of successful people from history, indicating that they were all honed from anxiety and pain. For example, Shun was born in a farmhouse and later became the king of a country; Jiao Wei suffered from war and made a living by selling fish and salt. Later, Zhou Wenwang promoted him and made great contributions to the Zhou Dynasty. Sun Shuao lived in seclusion on the seashore, and Chu Zhuangwang elected him as Lingyin, with great achievements.

These examples show that it is impossible for people to cultivate strong will and enterprising spirit without "hardship" and reflection on the lessons of failure.

Mencius summed up these truths at the height of philosophy of life, and wrote a well-known saying in China since ancient times: "Born in sorrow and died in happiness" ("Mencius told his son"). Worry is enough to make people survive and develop, and happiness is enough to make people sink and die. What a profound philosophy of life this is! ?

2. Jia Yi in the early Western Han Dynasty was a political commentator with keen thinking, daring to tell the truth and a strong sense of responsibility. He was concerned about the national luck, and wrote a letter to Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, that is, the famous "Public Security Policy". At that time, when the Western Han Dynasty was founded for more than 2 years, the political power became increasingly stable and the economy resumed development.

However, according to his own observation and research, Jia Yi pointed out in his letter with great anxiety that "all the prognosticators said that the world had been settled and cured, and I thought that it was not right", and that the "situation" at that time was not optimistic, and there were quite a few things to cry about, cry about and take a long breath.

He also positively put forward methods to solve social contradictions. A warning like Jia Yi is a manifestation of a sense of responsibility, not a moaning without illness, nor a pessimistic despair.

Extended information:

There are the following examples about the sense of hardship:

1. Fan Zhongyan, a famous politician and scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty, raised the previous sense of "hardship" to a new height in his famous article "The Story of Yueyang Tower". Yueyang Tower was first built in the Tang Dynasty and rebuilt in Song Renzong.

Fan Zhongyan visited Yueyang Tower in Yuezhou (now Yueyang City, Hunan Province) at the invitation of a friend. This famous article begins with going upstairs to overlook the landscape of Dongting Lake, and then the author puts forward a question: "Is it unusual to look at things?" It means, will people's feelings of appreciating the scenery change with the change of environment?

On rainy days, going upstairs to see the scenery makes people feel "homesick, sorrowful, bleak, extremely sad". But when will you be happy? It must be said: worry about the world first, and then enjoy the world. ...... "

2. Huang Zongxi, a thinker who experienced great changes in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, wrote an epoch-making book" Ming Yi Waiting to Be Visited "in the second year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty (1667), which deeply analyzed the feudal monarchy. He pretended that the three generations (Xia, Shang and Zhou) were the golden age, saying that at this time, "the world was the mainstay and the monarch was the guest."

under three generations, the situation has changed greatly, and "the monarch is the mainstay and the world is the guest". Because of the inversion of subject and object, the monarch regards the world as his own thing and monopolizes the benefits of the world, forming dark politics. Huang Zongxi pointed out: "For the great harm of the world, you are just a gentleman." ("Ming Yi to be interviewed, Yuan Jun").

He put forward: "The rule of chaos in the world is not the rise and fall of a surname, but the sorrow and joy of all people." (The same as the original minister) He attributed his personal worries to the worries of all. He also said that the official position of the minister is "for the world, not for the monarch; For the people, not for a surname "(ibid.).

"Tianxia" is a noun with profound connotation, which is different from the rule of one family and one surname. Gu Yanwu, a close friend of Huang Zongxi, also emphasized "protecting the world". He said: "... those who protect the world are cheap and have no responsibility" (article 13 "Zhengshi" in Rizhilu).

in a letter to Huang Zongxi in the 15th year of Emperor Kangxi (AD 1676), Gu Yanwu said: "... I have read the great book Ming Yi Waiting to Visit again and again, so I know that there is no one in the world. In the world, those who have knowledge may not be at the right time, but those who are at the right time may not have knowledge. After the ancient gentleman wrote a book, there was a king who got it and learned from it. " (Collected Stories of Lost Articles in Tinglin) The sense of "worry" prompted them to pin their hopes on the future.