A wealthy gentleman in England in the 18th century was walking home late one night when he was stopped by a little boy with unkempt hair and ragged clothes. "Sir, please buy a pack of matches," the little boy said. "I don't buy it." replied the gentleman. As he spoke, the gentleman dodged the boy and continued walking, "Sir, please buy a pack. I haven't eaten anything today," the little boy caught up and said. When the gentleman saw that he couldn't avoid the boy, he said, "But I don't have any change." Sir, you take the matches first, and I will change the change for you. After saying that, the boy ran away quickly with a pound given by the gentleman. The gentleman waited for a long time, but the boy still didn't come back. The gentleman went home helplessly.
The next day, the gentleman was working in his office. The servant said that a boy came and asked to see the gentleman. So the boy was called in. This boy was shorter than the match boy and his clothes were more ragged. "Sir, I'm sorry, my brother asked me to bring you some change." "Where is your brother?" the gentleman said. "My brother was hit by a carriage and seriously injured on his way back to you after changing his change. He is lying at home." The gentleman was deeply moved by the little boy's integrity. "Let's go see your brother!" When we went to the boy's home, we found that only the stepmothers of the two boys were greeting the seriously injured boys. When he saw the gentleman, the boy quickly said, "I'm sorry, I didn't send you the change on time. I broke my promise!" The gentleman was deeply moved by the boy's integrity. When he learned that the biological parents of the two boys were both dead, he decided to take on everything they needed in life. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Shang Yang of Qin State presided over the reform with the support of Qin Xiaogong. At that time, when wars were frequent and people were in panic, in order to establish prestige and promote reforms, Shang Yang ordered a three-foot-long log to be erected outside the south gate of the capital, and made a promise in public: Who can move this log to the north gate? The bounty is ten taels. The onlookers didn't believe that such an easy thing could get such a high reward, so no one was willing to give it a try. So Shang Yang increased the reward to 50 gold. There must be a brave man under the heavy reward, and finally someone stood up and carried the wood to the north gate. Shang Yang immediately rewarded him with fifty gold coins. Shang Yang's move established prestige in the hearts of the people, and Shang Yang's subsequent reforms soon spread in the Qin State. The new law made Qin gradually stronger and stronger, and finally unified China.
In the same place where Shang Yang "erected a tree as a sign of trust", 400 years ago, a ridiculous farce of "playing with princes by beacon fire" took place.
King You of Zhou had a favorite concubine named Bao Si. In order to win her smile, King You of Zhou ordered beacon fires to be lit on more than 20 beacon towers near the capital - beacon fires were a signal to alert the border, and were only used by foreign enemies. Invasion can only be ignited when the princes are summoned to rescue. As a result, when the princes saw the beacon fire, they hurried over with their soldiers and generals. After understanding that this was the king's trick to win over his wife, they left angrily. Bao Si finally smiled happily when she saw the helpless appearance of the usually dignified princes. Five years later, Youyi Tairong launched a large-scale attack on the Zhou Dynasty. King You's war was reignited but the princes did not arrive - no one wanted to be fooled a second time. As a result, King You was forced to commit suicide and Bao Si was captured.
A standing tree earns trust and a promise is made; an emperor has no trust and plays the game of "crying wolf". As a result, the former's reform was successful and the country became strong; the latter brought humiliation to himself and the country perished. It can be seen that "faith" plays a very important role in the rise and fall of a country. When Meng's family was still living next to the market in Miaohuying Village, someone was killing pigs in the east neighbor. Mencius asked his mother in confusion: "Why is the neighbor killing pigs?" Meng's mother was busy at the time, so she casually responded: You eat! Mencius was very happy to wait for meat. In order not to break her promise to her son, Meng's mother reluctantly allocated part of her limited living expenses to buy a piece of meat for her son to eat happily.
Honesty and its performance (requirements) Honesty is the basic principle of being a human being, the core of good morality, and the foundation of all kinds of good character.
1. Honesty means seeking truth from facts, being consistent on appearance, telling the truth, doing real things, not being hypocritical, not exaggerating, not exaggerating.
2. An honest person is honest to himself, which means he does not deceive himself, is open-minded, and does not say or do things that go against his will.
3. Honest people are sincere and truthful to others, do not tell lies or do false things, keep their words and deeds consistent, and keep their promises.
4. Only by being honest and trustworthy can we establish good interpersonal relationships, lay a solid career foundation, and achieve solid life achievements.
5. Only when everyone is honest and trustworthy can social order be orderly and civilization progress possible
To learn to be honest, you must understand the importance of commitment. Whether it's a big or small thing, once you make a promise, you should keep it. A person's credit is established by consistent honest and trustworthy behavior, so we cannot underestimate every promise we make. In the early years, few foreigners set foot in the southern foothills of the Himalayas in Nepal. Later, many Japanese came here for sightseeing. It is said that this was due to the integrity of a young man.
One day, several Japanese photographers asked a local boy to buy beer for them. The boy ran for more than three hours. The next day, the boy volunteered to buy beer for them again. This time the photographers gave him a lot of money, but the boy had not come back until the afternoon of the third day. As a result, the photographers talked a lot, thinking that the young man had cheated the money away. On the third night, the boy knocked on the photographer's door. It turned out that he only bought 4 bottles of beer in one place, so he climbed over another mountain and crossed a river to buy another 6 bottles. When he returned, he broke 3 bottles. He cried, holding the broken glass, and handed back the change to the photographer. Everyone present was moved. This story moved many foreigners deeply. Later, more and more tourists came here. In a riverside park in New York stands the "Civil War Fallen Soldiers Monument", where many tourists come to pay homage to the dead every year. The tomb of General Grant, the 18th president of the United States and commander of the Northern Army during the Civil War, is located in the north of the park. The mausoleum is tall, majestic, solemn and simple. Behind the mausoleum is a large green lawn that stretches to the edge of the park and to the edge of the steep cliff.
Behind General Grant’s mausoleum, closer to the cliff, there is also a child’s mausoleum. It was a very small and ordinary tomb. In any other place, you might ignore its existence. Like most American mausoleums, it has only a small tombstone. On the tombstone and a wooden sign next to it, there is a touching story about integrity:
The story happened in 1797, more than two hundred years ago. This year, when the little owner of this land was only five years old, he accidentally fell from the cliff here and died. His father was so heartbroken that he was buried here and a small mausoleum was built as a memorial. A few years later, the family declined and the old owner had to transfer the land. Out of love for his son, he made a strange request to the future owner of the land. He asked the new owner to regard the child's mausoleum as part of the land and never destroy it. The new owner agreed and wrote this condition into the contract. In this way, the child's tomb was preserved.
A hundred years have passed. I don’t know how many times this land has been sold and resold, and I don’t know how many owners it has changed. The child’s name has long been forgotten by the world, but the child’s mausoleum is still there. It has been completely completed according to one sales contract after another. Preserved without loss. By 1897, this geomantic treasure was selected as the General Grant Cemetery. The government became the owner of the land, and the unknown child's grave remained intact in government hands, becoming a neighbor of General Grant's mausoleum. The tomb of a great history maker and the tomb of an unknown child next to each other may be a unique wonder in the world.
Another hundred years later, in 1997, in memory of General Grant, the then New York Mayor Giuliani came here. At that time, it happened to be the 100th anniversary of the establishment of General Grant's Mausoleum and the 200th anniversary of the child's death. Mayor Giuliani personally wrote this touching story and engraved it on a wooden plaque to stand beside the Tomb of the Unknown Child. Beside, let this story about integrity be passed down from generation to generation...