Praise the kind-hearted and show compassion
to the ignorant.(嘉善矜愚)
During the Three Kingdoms period in China,
the Wu Kingdom had a famous minister named Lu Mao. His story is recorded in
historical books.
His elder brother was the prime minister of
the Eastern Wu Kingdom, and his family was very wealthy. Despite his family's
wealth and high social status, he was a man of principle who did not neglect
his studies. He studied diligently and valued his friends highly.
One of these friends was Ji Yan.
Ji Yan was a very fair person. After
spending several years in various roles in the central government, he was
appointed to a position responsible for evaluating and assessing officials.
He valued his new position highly and
devoted himself to his work. He carefully examined each official's performance,
looking for any shortcomings.
Whenever he discovered an official's
mistake, he publicly announced it and severely punished the official.
However, because he focused too much on
minor faults, there was much backlash from officials.
A few months after he assumed the position,
Lu Mao wrote him a letter.
The letter translates as follows:
'I have studied many ancient Chinese books
and found that wise and morally upright people in ancient China shared some
common traits. They praise the kind-hearted and show compassion to the
ignorant.
.
When they saw others make mistakes, they
chose to forgive and forget.
When they saw others achieve merit, they
frequently commemorated their accomplishments.
The actions of these people influenced
society, making it kinder and better each day.
Our Eastern Wu Kingdom has only recently
been established, and its foundations are not yet secure.
Currently, China is divided into three
kingdoms: the Eastern Wu, the Shu Han, and the Cao Wei. Our ultimate goal is to
defeat the other two kingdoms and unify China.
"At this critical juncture, I believe
we should not focus on the minor shortcomings of each official. Instead, we
should highlight the strengths of each official, enabling them to utilize their
talents to the fullest.
I greatly admire your work ethic: you
perform your duties fairly and impartially. However, I think you should
consider the realities of the situation and adjust your methods accordingly.
You shouldn't focus solely on identifying
minor shortcomings in officials' work or rely solely on punishment.
Another crucial tool in your work is
rewarding officials who demonstrate outstanding performance.
You should focus on identifying the
strengths and merits of each official and reward them accordingly.
(Ji Yan) received this letter but
ultimately did not heed Lu Mao's advice. His actions later provoked a backlash
from officials of all ranks, and the king eventually dismissed him from his
post.
This idiom means praise the kind-hearted
and show compassion to the ignorant.
Dear friend, what inspiration or thoughts did you gain from this story?
Do you consider environmental factors before undertaking a task? Why do you think many fair people often have unfortunate life outcomes?
I hope this story gives you some new insights.
嘉善矜愚(Praise the kind-hearted and show
compassion to the ignorant.)
中國的三國時代的吳王國有一個著名的大臣，他的名字叫做陸瑁，歷史書上記載了一個他的故事。
他的哥哥是東吳王國的宰相，他家中的經濟條件非好，他是一個很有原則的人，他沒有因為他家中的經濟情況與社會地位很高就荒廢學習，他很用心地念書，他有很多好朋友，他很重視自己跟這些好朋友之間的友誼。
他有一個好朋友，這個好朋友的名字叫做(暨艷)。
(暨艷)是一個很公正的人，經過幾年的中央政府的職位輪替後，他被派任去擔任一個負責掌考核評定官員的工作表面的職位。
(暨艷)很看重他的這個新職務，他花了很多心思在工作上，他很仔細的去考核每個官員在工作上是否有缺失。
(暨艷)只要發現一個官員有過失，他就會把這個官員所犯的錯誤公開給所有人知道，他還會針對這個官員進行嚴厲的懲罰。
然而由於他過於聚焦於官員們的微小過失，因此當時地官員們中有很多反彈他的聲音。
(暨艷)擔任這個職位的幾個月後，陸瑁寫了一封信給他。
這封信的大概意思如下。
我研究過很多中國古代書籍，我發現中國古代的那些有智慧地而且道德水平很高的人們有一些共同的特質，這些特質就是他們嘉獎善良的人，他們憐憫愚昧的人。
他們看到別人做錯事時，他們會選擇原諒並且遺忘這些人所犯的錯。
他們看到別人有功勞時，他們會採取常常紀念這些人所立下的功勞。
這些人的行為影響了它們所生活的社會，他們所生活的社會一天比一天更善良與美好。
我們東吳王國才剛剛建立不久，我們這個王國的根基還不夠穩固。
現在整個中國分裂成東吳王國和蜀漢王國和曹魏王國，我們的終極目標是要打敗另外兩個王國並統一全中國。
在這個特殊的時刻，我認為我們不應該把注意力放在每個官員的那些為小的缺點上。我認為我們應該要放大每個官員的優點讓每個官員都能夠全力的發揮出自己的長處。
你的工作態度我非常的認同，你公平與公正地做好你該做的事，但是我認為你應該要考慮到現實的情況去調整你做事的方法。
我認為你不應該把你的工作重點放在去找出每個官員所犯的那些小缺失上，你不應該只運用處罰的方式來做你的工作。
你的工作除了處罰這項工具之外，另外有一個很重要的工具就是你可以獎勵那些在工作上有傑出表現的官員。
你應該把你的眼光放在如何去發掘每個官員的優點與強項，針對每個官員的優點與強項去嘉獎他們。
(暨艷)收到這封信後，他最終沒有選擇聽從陸瑁的勸告，他的行為後來引起了很多大大小小的官員的反彈，國王後來解除了他職位。
這句成語的意思是讚美善良的人、體恤愚昧的人。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有怎樣的啟發或有怎樣的想法呢。
你在執行一項任務前會不會考慮當時的環境因素呢?你認為為何很多很公正的人的人生結局往往不很好呢?
我期待這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為三國志-卷57--吳書-陸瑁傳
https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E5%9C%8B%E5%BF%97/%E5%8D%B757