Force is about conquering, while wisdom is about understanding. Wisdom allows you to find a way through any situation, while force can only push you forward. The following are two stories about using wisdom instead of force to solve a problem.
All it takes is a bag of eggs
An old saying goes: “It’s worth more to have a good relationship with your neighbor than to have far away relatives.”
Because everyone is different, and each family has its habits, there may come a time when these differences cause friction between neighbors. With goodwill and kind intentions, these issues can be quickly resolved. In any case, whenever there is friction between neighbors, it takes some wisdom to solve the conflict.
There once was a family with a Japanese-style bungalow. The owner built a vegetable garden behind his house. But the next-door neighbor raised a flock of hens in the backyard. However, the neighbor’s chickens often ran into his vegetable garden and made a mess.
The other owner repeatedly told the neighbor to keep his hens locked up. But even though the neighbor promised to do it, he never took action.
One day, the owner became furious, but he didn’t want to let such a trifle affect the relationship. So, after calming down and thinking hard, he came up with a solution.
The house owner bought a bag of eggs and gave it to the next-door’s child to take home. The next day, the next-door neighbor came to thank him. He said: “You are welcome. My family has so many eggs that we can’t finish them. Otherwise, the eggs will go bad.”
The neighbor was surprised and said: “But I didn’t see you raising chicken; how come you have so many eggs?”
The master said smilingly: “I find several eggs in my vegetable garden daily, so we can’t eat them all.”
After this incident, the neighbor’s hens were never again seen in his vegetable garden.
And so it was that the master peacefully resolved the problem, and all it took him was a bag of eggs.
A broken bamboo basket worth 80,000 taels of silver
Many people forget that reputation is the cornerstone of success.
Qiao Zhiyong was one of the most famous Shanxi merchants in China’s Qing Dynasty. He was open-minded and always helped his friends in times of need.
Once, store owner Wu of the Wanliju Store in the eastern city of Baotou borrowed 80,000 taels of silver from Qiao Zhinyong for capital turnover.
The store owner then promised the merchant he would pay off the principal and interest in one year. However, even after a year, store owner Wu still hadn’t repaid the loan and never even mentioned it to merchant Qiau the whole time.
What the store owner did do, however, was visit Qiao’s home and tearfully say: “Now, I am so poor that I only have a broken bamboo basket for selling peanuts at home. So how can I repay the loan of 80,000 taels of silver?”
Even though Qiao, the merchant, understood that Wu wanted to renege on his agreement to pay the debt, he still comforted Wu: “Now that you have been down and out like this, I can’t force you to return the money. So bring that broken basket to pay it off!”
On hearing this, store owner Wu was thrilled and sent merchant Qiao the broken basket.
After Wu left, a shop clerk asked Qiao eagerly: “Is a broken bamboo basket worth 80,000 taels of silver? Didn’t you make a loss on the money you loaned him?”
Qiao smiled: “If you do as I tell you, Wu’s basket will help us get the money back.”
Later, Qiao asked his clerk to hang the broken basket at the most prominent position of the shop with a price tag of 80,000 taels of silver for sale.
On hearing it, many people were curious and came to see what had happened, learning the broken basket’s story. As a result, many business people knew about this and stopped doing business with Wu.
At that point, Wu finally realized the seriousness of the problem. So he had no choice but to redeem the broken basket by paying off the loan.
Translated by Joseph Wu and edited by Hermann Rohr
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