Lesson from President Xi Jing Peng's father

President Xi Jing Peng of China said:

When I was a small child, I was very selfish, always grab the best for myself. Slowly, everyone left me and I had no friends. I didn’t think it was my fault but criticize others.

My father gave me three sentences to help me in life.

One day, my father cooked two bowls of noodles put the two bowls on the table. One bowl has one egg on top and the other bowl does not have any egg on top. He said ”My child. You choose. Which bowl do you want”. Eggs were hard to come by those days! Only get to eat eggs during festivals or New Year. Of course I chose the bowl with egg! As we started eating, I was congratulating myself on my wise choice/decision and wallop up the egg. Then to my surprise as my father ate his noodles, there were TWO eggs at the bottom of his bowl beneath the noodes! I regretted so much! And scolded myself for being too hasty in my decision. My father smiled and sad to me, ”My child. You must remember what your eyes see may not be true. If you intent on taking advantage of people, you will end up losing!”

The next day, my father again cooked two bowls of noodles: one bowl with an egg on top and the other bowl with no egg on top. Again, he put the two bowls on the table and said to me, ”My child. You choose. Which bowl do you want?” This time I am smarter. I chose the bowl without any egg on top. To my surprise, as I separated the noodles on top, there was not even a single egg at the bottom of the bowl! Again my father smiled and said to me, ”My child, you must not always rely on experiences cos sometimes, life can cheat you or play tricks on you. But you must not be too annoyed or sad, just treat this as learning a lesson .You cannot learn this from textbooks".

The third day, my father again cooked two bowls of noodles, again one bowl with an egg on top and the other bowl with no egg on top. He put the two bowls on the table and again said to me, ”My child. You choose. Which bowl do you want?”. This time, I told my father, ”Dad, you choose first. You are the head of the family and contributed the most to the family. ”My father did not decline and chose the bowl with one egg on top. As I eat my bowl of noodles, Sure in my heart that there is no egg inside the bowl. To my surprise! There were TWO eggs at the bottom of the bowl.

My father smiled at me with love in his eyes, ”My child, you must remember!When uou think for the good of others, good things will always naturally happen to you!”

I always remember these three sentences of my father and lived and do my business accordingly. True enough, my business was a roaring success.

*Xi Jing Peng*