Born in sorrow and died in happiness
Opening the book of history, one dynasty after another in the past five thousand years roared out of the smoke and dust, and accompanied it sadly with the sound of melancholy. Go far. People say, "It's easy to conquer a country, but it's hard to sit on it." It's not that it's difficult to hold on to a piece of land, but that after years of comfort, a heart gradually becomes slow and dull, and it has long lost its original edge.
I recall the time when the First Emperor reigned over the world and was so high-spirited that he compared himself to the Three Sovereigns and the Five Emperors, thinking that he was in control of everything. Unfortunately, the Qin Dynasty II was overthrown, and the Afang fire did not go out for several days.
Isn’t this the benefit of happiness?
Mencius said: "Shun was raised among the acres of land, Fu Shuo was raised among the boards, Jiao Ge was raised among the fish and salt, Guan Yiwu was raised among the scholars, Sun Shu'ao was raised among the sea, and Baili Xi was raised. Take it to the city."
It seems that heroes have been hardworking since ancient times. King Wen of Zhou Dynasty was imprisoned and wrote "Book of Changes", Confucius was frustrated in his official career and wrote "Spring and Autumn", Qu Yuan wrote "Li Sao" when he was in exile, Zuo Qiu wrote "Guoyu" after losing his sight, Han Feizi was imprisoned in Qin and wrote "Shuo Nan", and Sima Qian was castrated to complete "Historical Records". Throughout the ages, how many great men are not "poor people"?
Therefore, Mencius said: "Therefore, when Heaven is about to assign a great responsibility to (such) people, they must first strain their minds, strain their muscles and bones, starve their skin, deplete their body, and disturb their place. Therefore, if you are tempted to endure, you will benefit what you can't do. "
Isn't this the truth that Ouyang Xiu said, "worry and labor can rejuvenate a country, and leisure and hesitation can destroy one's body?"
People often make mistakes, and then they can correct them; (when they make mistakes) they are troubled in their hearts, and they can only rise up after being blocked by thoughts; the haggard and withered color is reflected in the face, and the breath of chanting and sighing is expressed in the voice, and then Only then was he understood. If there are not ministers who can uphold the law and wise men who can help the monarch, and if there are no neighboring countries to rival it and no harm from foreign countries, a country will often perish.
Throughout the ages, which dynasty has not been like this? Is it difficult to hold on to a country? No, it's not difficult. It's just that the hearts that worked hard to achieve success have lost the sharp light they once had in the years of indulgence and extravagance.
I believe those who were born on the seaside know that pearls are formed when lesions occur in the bodies of some molluscs such as clams or when external sand particles and microorganisms enter the shells. For most people, pearls are just a luxurious decoration, but they ignore an important condition - that is the price of blood and flesh!
Therefore, Mencius also said: "People always make mistakes, and then they can change; they are trapped in the heart, balanced by worries, and then act; they are marked by color, produced by sound, and then metaphors. If you enter, you will be unable to move at home. , If you go out, you will be invincible to foreign patients, and your country will perish.”
I still remember this fable: A Persian businessman went to sea in a boat. He had never experienced the hardship of riding a boat before, and he cried so much that it made people upset. Everyone tried to comfort me but it was of no avail. A philosopher pushed him into the sea, and after many ups and downs, he pulled him on board. From then on, the Persian merchants were very settled, talking and laughing. Why? Philosophers say that only after experiencing the sorrow of catastrophe can one know the value of peace and happiness.
Isn’t that what life is like? Those who have never been to hell will never know heaven! Why are there so many rich second generations today? Squander the world that our fathers worked so hard for. Perhaps their parents gave them a lot of wealth, but they forgot one thing - hard work. Since ancient times, heroes have been hardened, right? Isn’t hard work also a necessary cornerstone of success? We don’t want to bloom in a greenhouse, but we want to fight in the blue sky!
For individuals, "born from sorrow" is an eternal saying, and Gou Jian's "suffering hardship" is such a role model. King Zhou built wine ponds and meat forests, which is a typical example of "die in peace". Zhang Ruimin of Haier often said, "Always be cautious and always walk on thin ice." Bill Gates of Microsoft also said: "We are always only eighteen months away from bankruptcy." It is their strong sense of urgency that makes them unremittingly successful. "Don't forget danger when you are safe, and worry about decline when you are prosperous." Let us seek survival and development amidst sorrow and not go into decline amid enjoyment.
For the team, a sense of urgency drives the team to make continuous progress. Otherwise, the team will "die of comfort."
In the past, Nokia dominated the world. For a long time, the company ignored the changes in the market. The company still stubbornly believed that it had enough advantages. The company turned a deaf ear to the development of the iPhone. In the end, As a result, Nokia today is in trouble from all sides. The ancients said: "Safety and danger come with each other, and misfortunes and blessings come with each other." In narcissism, danger will inevitably come quietly; if you can't live in peace and think about danger, you can't take precautions; if you don't have a far-sighted view, you will easily "die of happiness". In sharp contrast, Youku and Tudou are at ease but not indulging, and they are not slacking off even though they are at the forefront. Two months ago, just after the Jingzhe, Youku and Tudou announced their merger. This sound, no less than a spring thunder, immediately shocked us. What forces these two top online video friends to work together? It’s fierce business competition, and it’s also a strong sense of urgency. The sense of crisis and urgency in the ups and downs of the business world prompted the two giants to join forces. "Those who are afraid of death will survive, and those who are afraid of danger will be safe." The team must always be alert to future difficulties and crises in order to continue to make progress.
“Be born in sorrow and die in happiness” is also a good strategy for the long-term stability of the country. Japan, which is prone to earthquakes and has scarce resources, uses the short-lived cherry blossom as its national flower to warn its people that beauty is fleeting and that they must be aware of danger and seize the moment. When Japan became the world's second economic power, they did not talk about "rise". They still talked about science fiction novels such as "The Sinking of Japan" and "island sinking, resource scarcity, and existential crisis." Everyone continued to strengthen their sense of urgency. In the current financial crisis, Iceland and Greece went bankrupt due to excessive comfort. Our country was also similar. In the heyday of Kangxi and Qianlong, when "all the people came to Korea and peace was at home", the sense of danger gradually faded away, the armaments were not repaired, and the defense was weakened. Finally, under the attack of the powerful ships and artillery of the imperialist powers, the country lost power and land, lost all lives, and suffered a century of national humiliation. And now, in the large-scale construction projects, great achievements, "international metropolis" and other political achievement projects, how much "consciousness of worry" is still there? For this reason, the report of the 16th National Congress proposed "two sobernesses" and proposed "to enhance the awareness of worry and to be prepared for danger in times of peace." , a country must prepare for a rainy day in order to remain invincible.
Lu Xun said: "If life is too comfortable, work will be burdened by life." Let us always spur ourselves, work hard, and strive for self-improvement and progress!
“The edge of a sword comes from sharpening, and the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from the bitter cold.” Only by experiencing sorrow and hardship can we gradually move towards success. When you are young, putting yourself in adversity will not only hone many beautiful qualities, but also enhance your ability to live, expand your horizons, and master many skills.
The only way for a person who is dissatisfied with his current environment is to allow himself to overcome this environment and transcend it. For example, when walking, when you have to walk through a dangerous and narrow road, the only way is to cheer up, overcome the difficulties, and walk through this road. Instead of stopping and complaining in the middle, or simply sitting there and taking a nap, resigned to fate.
"Heroes in ancient and modern times have suffered many hardships." No matter what kind of environment you are in, you can gain the most valuable life by working hard and pursuing bravely. Therefore, people who are in an unsatisfactory environment should not be depressed and passive, but should use a more positive and optimistic spirit to control the current environment. A broader blue sky is waiting for you ahead.
(1) Learning and Thinking
Confucius, an educator more than 2,000 years ago, once said: "Learning without thinking means nothing." In learning, if he only knows to memorize things by rote without thinking and digesting them, he will gain nothing. Confucius' words are very reasonable.
A person's process from receiving knowledge to applying knowledge is actually a process of remembering and knowing, learning and thinking. Learning is the foundation of thinking, and thinking is the supplement of learning. The two are closely linked, and neither can be dispensed with. Just like the human body's digestion process of food, if you only learn without thinking, you will swallow the jujube without chewing it; if you apply one example without being able to infer other things, it means that the knowledge you have learned cannot be turned into "oneself" without digestion and absorption. Only by learning and thinking can we integrate the knowledge we have learned and draw inferences about other cases.
The combination of learning and thinking is the only way to master knowledge. The examples of successful people at home and abroad in ancient and modern times all prove this point. When Marxism-Leninism spread to the land of China, the communists led by Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and others, while absorbing the essence of Marxism-Leninism, combined with China's actual conditions, followed the path of "rural areas surrounding cities", and finally created socialism New China.
Just imagine, if the revolutionary ancestors did not learn, think, think and practice, but blindly applied rote and dogmatic methods, how could the Chinese revolution succeed? If Galileo, the great scientist of the Renaissance, had not thought independently while studying, would the experiment of "two iron balls landing at the same time" have happened at that time? Can mankind break free from Aristotle's erroneous theory as soon as possible? Learning while thinking, thinking while learning, is the successful experience of these great men, and it is also the source of motivation for human progress.
Today is an era of "explosion of knowledge". The field of knowledge has expanded many times in less than a century. "My life has a limit, but my knowledge has no limit." In the face of such a vast world In the ocean of knowledge, it is impossible to reach the bright shore by just relying on rote memorization. Therefore, the American education community is working hard to reform the original teaching system and strive to cultivate students' thinking and creative abilities to adapt to tomorrow's science; Europe and Japan have not followed suit, and China's education system reform is urgent and imperative. . Tomorrow's creative talents must be cultivated from today's students. Therefore, we should do more: think while studying, put forward independent opinions while thinking, cultivate our own thinking ability, and wait for tomorrow's choice.
Independent thinking in learning is the successful experience of scholars and masters and the source of motivation for human progress. Cultivating this ability in students is the hope for today's China to rise tomorrow.
(2) The one-sidedness of talking about "born in sorrow and dying in peace and happiness"
Mencius said: "born in sorrow and died in peace and happiness." This sentence has been used for thousands of years. It is regarded as a cautionary motto. In fact, this sentence is extremely one-sided.
Yes, there are countless examples of "born in sorrow and dying in happiness". For example: If Gou Jian, the king of Yue, had not suffered so much humiliation in the state of Wu, how could he have endured so much hardship when he returned home? If you don't work hard, how can you become strong and destroy Wu in one fell swoop? If the Chinese women's volleyball team hadn't suffered so much from being weak against the world's strong players, how could it have jumped up and created the miracle of "five consecutive championships"? These facts show that people can indeed survive and develop in the face of hardship.
However, there are conditions for "being born in sorrow and dying in happiness". What is this condition? That depends on whether you have ideals, perseverance, and the spirit of struggle. As long as you have ideals, perseverance and a spirit of hard work. Then when you are in sorrow, you will naturally seek survival and development; similarly, if you have ideals, perseverance, and a spirit of continuous improvement, you will never go to the grave of death even if you are in a comfortable environment.
A person who is troubled by worries and cannot escape from the quagmire of worries, simply breaks the jar, sinks in negativity, and does not fight against the bad situation, then he cannot survive in the "worry". Whether it is "life" or "death", the key lies in what people "do" or "don't do". "For" means "survive" whether you are in sorrow or in peace and happiness. "Not doing anything", whether in adversity or good times, will inevitably lead to "death".
The times have advanced, and the people are moving towards a well-off society. There are fewer and fewer people in distress, and the majority of people are in good times. While emphasizing "survival in the midst of sorrow", we should also talk about "seeking development in the midst of peace and happiness." As long as we treat "well-being" correctly and regard good times as a broad runway for take-off, then we can dominate "life" and "death" and hold the key to success.
There are three factories A, B and C. Both factories A and B are on the verge of bankruptcy. The competent authorities have shown yellow cards to factories A and B. After receiving the yellow card, Factory A worked together as a team to carry out corporate reforms, boldly appointed talents, strengthened vertical and horizontal connections, and strengthened corporate management. As a result, it turned losses into profits in the first year and made a net profit of 100,000 yuan in the second year. After Factory B received the yellow card, the leader resigned, and the employees went off to find their own jobs, and finally closed the factory. Factory B did not survive the hardship. Factory C is a township enterprise with original fixed assets of only 3,000 yuan and 8 workers. After working for two years, his products were sold throughout the province, with an annual output value of 210,000 yuan and 50 workers. In the fourth year, there were more than 100 employees in the factory, and the annual output value reached one million yuan. Now, Factory C’s products are selling well in Asia. Factory C is becoming more and more prosperous and has not been deterred by good times. It can be seen how important the word "we" is! History shows that whether it is a country, a unit, or a person, as long as you "do" and keep struggling, you can "become stronger" or "become stronger"; if you "don't do", you will just wait for happiness or enjoy peace and quiet. , then, "strong" will turn into "weak", and "weak" will tend to "die".
So, the saying "Be born in sorrow, die in happiness" is only half correct and cannot be regarded as a perfect warning.
For reference only.