Date: 2013-11-17
Soft ears or soft tongue?
Of all anecdotes, my favorite has long been Joseon (朝鮮)'s Prime Minister Hwang Hee (황희)'s.
One day, a servant visits Hwang Hee's room. She explains what happened between she and another servant, and asks Hwang Hee to scold the other one. Hwang Hee agrees with the girl. Later, the one who was reported visits Hwang Hee's room. She makes her case, and explains that the other one is at fault. Hwang Hee agrees with her. After listening to Hwang Hee's conversation with both servants, Hwang Hee's wife tells him that he should have made it clear who did what wrong to the servants. Hwang Hee agrees with her.
Being able to understand where people are coming from is probably the coolest ability I can imagine to have. This is also perfectly aligned with the ultimate goal of my life: comforts of every possible sorts. However, this is supposed to be very difficult to achieve. It is so challenging that even Kongzi (孔子) claimed that he achieved it only at his 60 (耳順). And, I will never get to verify his claim.
Annoyingly, I seem to be better at critiquing than at producing. I think of myself as more of an investor material than a businessman material. To make best use of my talent for my living and the world, I had better stick to something I am good at, especially given the competitions. Also, it's probably a more efficient allocation of resource than otherwise. But, will I be able to be a good investor without certain degree of stress-inducing judging and its expression? Would there be any way to reconcile the two? In fact, Hwang Hee could have had his own opinion that he did not express in the anecdote. In that case, does this boil down to the matter of appropriateness in expression? In that case, how would I gain the foresight of which implications my comments will have? If I am not born with it, must I put in an effort in differentiating my thoughts and expressions? What would I be giving up?
Again, I beat the purpose of this exercise by stressing myself.