FW: 三八就是二十三---

三八就是二十三---

顏回愛學習，德性又好，是孔子的得意門生。

一天，顏回去街上辦事，見一家布店前圍滿了人。

 他上前一問，才知道是買布的跟賣布的發生了糾紛。

 只聽買布的大嚷大叫：「三八 就是二十三 ，你為啥要我二十四 個錢？」

顏回走到買布的跟前，施一禮說：「這位大哥，三八是 二十四 ，怎麼會是二十三呢？是你算錯了， 不要吵啦。」

買布的仍不服氣，指著顏回的鼻子說：誰請你出來評理的？你算老幾？ 要評理只有找 孔夫子，錯與不錯只有他說了算！走，咱找他評理去！

 顏回說：「好。孔夫子若評你錯了，怎麼辦？」

 買布的說：「評我錯了輸上我的頭 。你錯了呢？」

 顏回說：「 評我錯了輸上我的冠。」二人打著賭，找到了孔子。

 孔子問明了情況，對顏回笑笑說：「三八就是 二十三 哪！顏回，你輸啦，把冠取下來給人家吧！ 」

 顏回從來不跟老師鬥嘴。他聽孔子評他錯了，就老老實實摘下帽子，交給了買布的。

 那人接過帽子，得意地走了。

 對孔子的評判，顏回表面上絕對服從，心裡卻想不通。

 他認為孔子已老糊塗，便不想再跟孔子學習了。 第二天，顏回就藉故說家中有事，要請假回去。

 孔子明白顏回的心事，也不挑破，點頭准了他的假。

 顏回臨行前，去跟孔子告別。

 孔子要他辦完事即返回，並囑咐他兩句話：

 「千年古樹莫存身，殺人不明勿動手。」

 顏回應聲「記住了」，便動身往家走。

 路上，突然風起雲湧，雷鳴電閃，眼看要下大雨。

 顏回鑽進路邊一棵大樹的空樹幹裡，想避避雨。

 他猛然記起孔子「千年古樹莫存身 」的話，心想，師徒一場， 再聽他一次話吧，從空樹幹離開。

 他剛離開不遠，一個炸雷，把那棵古樹劈個粉碎。

 顏回大吃一驚：老師的第一句話應驗啦！難道我還會殺人嗎？

 顏回趕到家，已是深夜。 他不想驚動家人，就用隨身佩帶的寶劍，撥開了妻子住室的門栓。

 顏回到床前一摸，啊呀呀，南頭睡個人，北頭睡個人！

 他怒從心頭起，舉劍正要砍，又想起 孔子的第二句話「殺人不明勿動手」。

 他點燈一看，床上一頭睡的是妻子，一頭睡的是妹妹。

 天明，顏回又返了回去，見了孔子便跪下說：「老師，您那兩句話，救了我、 我妻和我妹妹三個人哪！您事前怎麼會知道，要發生的事呢？」

 孔子把顏回扶起來說：「昨天天氣燥熱，估計會有雷雨，因而就提醒你 『千年古樹莫存身』。

你又是帶著氣走的，身上還佩帶著寶劍，因而我告誡你『殺人不明勿動手』。

 顏回打躬說：「老師料事如神，學生十分敬佩！」

 孔子又開導顏回說：「我知道你請假回家是假的，實則以為我老糊塗了， 不願再跟我學習。你想想：我說三八二十三是對的，你輸了，不過輸個冠﹔ 我若說三八二十四是對的，他輸了，那可是一條人命啊！你說冠重要還是人命重要？」

 顏回恍然大悟，「噗通」跪在孔子面前，說：「老師重大義而輕小是小非， 學生還以為老師因年高而欠清醒呢。 學生慚愧萬分！」

 從這以後，孔子無論去到哪裡，顏回再沒離開過他。

 這故事讓我想起優克李林有首歌的歌詞 : 如果失去了妳，贏了世界又如何?

 相同的， 有時你爭贏了你所謂的道 ，卻可能失去更重要的 ; 事總有輕重緩急之分，不要為了爭一口氣，而後悔莫及！

 喜歡這篇文章嗎？

 很多事情不必爭~~退一步海闊天空

跟客戶爭，爭贏的，也是輸 ( 新產品要送樣時，你就知道了 )

 跟老闆爭，爭贏的，也是輸 ( 年底打考績時，你就知道了 )

 跟老婆爭，爭贏的，也是輸 ( 她不理你，你就得 DIY)

 跟朋友爭，爭贏的，也是輸 ( 搞不好失去一個朋友 )

 茶葉因沸水，才能釋放出深蘊的清香，

 生命也只有遭遇一次次挫折，才能留下人生的幽香 …… 。

 懂得時時感恩的人.... 是最幸福的了！

Fwd: What the malaysia Chinese want

 

What the Chinese want

Sun, 02 May 2010 10:10

By Kee Thuan Chye
COMMENT Every time the Barisan Nasional gets less than the expected support from Chinese voters at an election, the question invariably pops up among the petty-minded: Why are the Chinese ungrateful?

So now, after the Hulu Selangor by-election, it’s not surprising to read in Utusan Malaysia a piece that asks: “Orang Cina Malaysia, apa lagi yang anda mahu?” (Chinese of Malaysia, what more do you want?)
Normally, something intentionally provocative and propagandistic as this doesn’t deserve to be honoured with a reply. But even though I’m fed up of such disruptive and ethnocentric polemics, this time I feel obliged to reply – partly because the article has also been published, in an English translation, in the Straits Times of Singapore.
I wish to emphasise here that I am replying not as a Chinese Malaysian but, simply, as a Malaysian.
Let me say at the outset that the Chinese have got nothing more than what any citizen should get. So to ask “what more” it is they want, is misguided. A correct question would be “What do the Chinese want?”
All our lives, we Chinese have held to the belief that no one owes us a living. We have to work for it. Most of us have got where we are by the sweat of our brow, not by handouts or the policies of the government.
We have come to expect nothing – not awards, not accolades, not gifts from official sources. (Let’s not lump in Datukships, that’s a different ball game.) We know that no Chinese who writes in the Chinese language will ever be bestowed the title of Sasterawan Negara, unlike in Singapore where the literatures of all the main language streams are recognised and honoured with the Cultural Medallion, etc.
We have learned we can’t expect the government to grant us scholarships. Some will get those, but countless others won’t. We’ve learned to live with that and to work extra hard in order to support our children to attain higher education – because education is very important to us. We experience a lot of daily pressure to achieve that. Unfortunately, not many non-Chinese realise or understand that. In fact, many Chinese had no choice but to emigrate for the sake of their children’s further education. Or to accept scholarships from abroad, many from Singapore, which has inevitably led to a brain drain.
The writer of the Utusan article says the Chinese “account for most of the students” enrolled in “the best private colleges in Malaysia”. Even so, the Chinese still have to pay a lot of money to have their children study in these colleges. And to earn that money, the parents have to work very hard. The money does not fall from the sky.
The writer goes on to add: “The Malays can gain admission into only government-owned colleges of ordinary reputation.” That is utter nonsense. Some of these colleges are meant for the cream of the Malay crop of students and are endowed with the best facilities. They are given elite treatment.
The writer also fails to acknowledge that the Chinese are barred from being admitted to some of these colleges. As a result, the Chinese are forced to pay more money to go to private colleges. Furthermore, the Malays are also welcome to enrol in the private colleges, and many of them do. It’s, after all, a free enterprise.
Plain and simple reason

The writer claims that the Chinese live “in the lap of luxury” and lead lives that are “more than ordinary” whereas the Malays in Singapore, their minority-race counterparts there, lead “ordinary lives”. Such sweeping statements sound inane especially when they are not backed up by definitions of “lap of luxury” and “ordinary lives”. They sound hysterical, if not hilarious as well, when they are not backed up by evidence. It’s surprising that a national daily like Utusan Malaysia would publish something as idiosyncratic as that. And the Straits Times too.

The writer quotes from a survey that said eight of the 10 richest people in Malaysia are Chinese. Well, if these people are where they are, it must have also come from hard work and prudent business sense. Is that something to be faulted?
If the writer had said that some of them achieved greater wealth through being given crony privileges and lucrative contracts by the government, there might be a point, but even then, it would still take hard work and business acumen to secure success. Certainly, Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, who is one of the 10, would take exception if it were said that he has not worked hard and lacks business savvy.
Most important, it should be noted that the eight Chinese tycoons mentioned in the survey represent but a minuscule percentage of the wider Chinese Malaysian population. To extrapolate that because eight Chinese are filthy rich, the rest of the Chinese must therefore live in the lap of luxury and lead more than ordinary lives would be a mockery of the truth. The writer has obviously not met the vast numbers of very poor Chinese.
The crux of the writer’s article is that the Chinese are not grateful to the government by not voting for Barisan Nasional at the Hulu Selangor by-election. But this demonstrates the thinking of either a simple mind or a closed one.
Why did the Chinese by and large not vote for BN? Because it’s corrupt. Plain and simple. Let’s call a spade a spade. And BN showed how corrupt it was during the campaign by throwing bribes to the electorate, including promising RM3 million to the Chinese school in Rasa.
The Chinese were not alone in seeing this corruption. The figures are unofficial but one could assume that at least 40 per cent of Malays and 45 per cent of Indians who voted against BN in that by-election also had their eyes open.
So, what’s wrong with not supporting a government that is corrupt? If the government is corrupt, do we continue to support it?
To answer the question then, what do the Chinese want? They want a government that is not corrupt; that can govern well and proves to have done so; that tells the truth rather than lies; that follows the rule of law; that upholds rather than abuses the country’s sacred institutions. BN does not fit that description, so the Chinese don’t vote for it. This is not what only the Chinese want. It is something every sensible Malaysian, regardless of race, wants. Is that something that is too difficult to understand?
Some people think that the government is to be equated with the country, and therefore if someone does not support the government, they are being disloyal to the country. This is a complete fallacy. BN is not Malaysia. It is merely a political coalition that is the government of the day. Rejecting BN is not rejecting the country.
A sense of belonging

Let’s be clear about this important distinction. In America, the people sometimes vote for the Democrats and sometimes for the Republicans. Voting against the one that is in government at the time is not considered disloyalty to the country.

By the same token, voting against Umno is also voting against a party, not against a race. And if the Chinese or whoever criticise Umno, they are criticising the party; they are not criticising Malays. It just happens that Umno’s leaders are Malay.
It is time all Malaysians realised this so that we can once and for all dispel the confusion. Let us no more confuse country with government. We can love our country and at the same time hate the government. It is perfectly all right.
I should add here what the Chinese don’t want. We don’t want to be insulted, to be called pendatang, or told to be grateful for our citizenship. We have been loyal citizens; we duly and dutifully pay taxes; we respect the country’s constitution and its institutions. Our forefathers came to this country generations ago and helped it to prosper. We are continuing to contribute to the country's growth and development.
Would anyone like to be disparaged, made to feel unwelcome, unwanted? For the benefit of the writer of the Utusan article, what MCA president Chua Soi Lek means when he says the MCA needs to be more vocal is that it needs to speak up whenever the Chinese community is disparaged. For too long, the MCA has not spoken up strongly enough when Umno politicians and associates like Ahmad Ismail, Nasir Safar, Ahmad Noh and others before them insulted the Chinese and made them feel like they don’t belong. That’s why the Chinese have largely rejected the MCA.
You see, the Chinese, like all human beings, want self-respect. And a sense of belonging in this country they call home. That is all the Chinese want, and have always wanted. Nothing more.

The Utusan Malaysia article:

Orang Cina Malaysia, apa lagi yang anda mahu?