A Nice
Story From Ancient China:
A farmer in ancient China
had a neighbor who was a hunter, and who owned ferocious and poorly trained
hunting dog.
They jumped the fence
frequently and chased the farmer's lambs.
The farmer asked his
neighbor to keep his dogs in check, but this fell on deaf ears.
One day the dogs again
jumped the fence and attacked and severely injured several of the lambs.
The farmer had had enough,
and went to town to consult a judge who listened carefully to the story and
said: "I could punish the hunter and instruct him to keep his dogs chained
or lock them up. But you would lose a friend and gain an enemy. Which would you
rather have, friend or foe for a neighbor?"
The farmer replied that he preferred a friend.
“Alright, I will offer you
a solution that keeps your lambs safe, and which will keep your a neighbor a
friend." Having heard the judge's solution, the farmer agreed.
Once at home, the farmer
immediately put the judge's suggestions to the test. He took three of his best
lambs and presented them to his neighbor's three small sons, who were beside
themselves with joy and began to play with them.
To protect his son's newly
acquired playthings, the hunter built a strong kennel for his dogs.
Since then, the dogs never
again bothered the farmer's lambs.
Out of gratitude for the
farmer's generosity toward his sons, the hunter often shared the game he had
hunted with the farmer.
The farmer reciprocated by
sending the hunter lamb meat and cheese he had made.
Within a short time the neighbors became good friends.
A saying in old China went
something like this, “One can win over and influence people the best with
gestures of kindness and compassion.”
A similar American saying:
“One catches more flies
with honey than with vinegar!
Have a lovely day
