At the end of the Qin Dynasty, there was a man named Ji Bu. He kept his word and had a very high reputation. Many people have established a strong friendship with him. At that time, there was even a proverb: "It is better to get a hundred pounds of gold than to keep a promise." (This is the origin of the idiom "A promise is as good as a gold") Later, he offended Liu Bang, the Emperor Gaozu, and was offered a reward for his capture. As a result, his old friends not only were not confused by the heavy money, but also risked the extinction of Jiuzu to protect him from disaster. A person who is honest and trustworthy will naturally get a lot of help and gain everyone's respect and friendship. On the other hand, if you covet temporary comfort or petty advantages and lose trust in your friends, you will get "benefits" on the surface. But for this benefit, he ruined his reputation, which is much more important than material things. Therefore, breaking a promise to a friend is tantamount to losing a watermelon and picking up sesame seeds, which is not worth the loss.
2. The Flower of Honesty
There was a king who wanted to find an honest child to be a prince, because he had no children. He said to the children who came to recruit: "I will give you a seed today. After three months, I will see who can plant the most beautiful flowers for me, and who is the prince. " Three months later, smart or clever children came to the final competition with pots of colorful flowers. Only one child was holding an empty pot with tearful eyes: "Dear King, I water the flowerpot diligently and fertilize it carefully every day. Even when I sleep, I hug the flowerpot in my arms, but I don't grow anything? " The king smiled: "honest prince, you can't plant any flowers and plants, because all I give you are fried seeds!" " "
In the story, the child became a prince by honesty.
3. The little boy selling matches
A.D.18th century, a rich gentleman in England was walking home late one night when he was stopped by a unkempt and ragged boy. "Please buy a pack of matches, sir," said the little boy. I won't buy it. The gentleman replied. Then the gentleman walked away from the boy. "Sir, please buy a bag. I have eaten nothing today. " The little boy caught up with him. Seeing that the boy could not escape, the gentleman said, "but I have no change." "Sir, take the match first and I'll change it for you." After that, the boy ran away with a pound given by the gentleman. The gentleman waited for a long time, but the boy still didn't come back. The gentleman went home helplessly.
The next day, the gentleman was working in his office. The servant said that a boy had come and asked to meet the gentleman. So the boy was called in. The boy is shorter than the boy who sells matches and is dressed in rags. I'm sorry, sir. My brother asked me to bring you the change. " "Where's your brother?" The way of a gentleman. "My brother was seriously injured by a carriage on his way back to find you after changing the change, and he was lying at home." The gentleman was deeply moved by the little boy's honesty. "Let's go! Let's go and see your brother! " When I arrived at the boy's house, I saw only two boys' stepmother greeting the badly injured boy. Seeing this gentleman, the boy quickly said, "I'm sorry I didn't send you the change back on time. I broke my word!" " The gentleman was deeply moved by the boy's honesty. When he learned that the parents of the two boys had died, he resolutely decided to take on everything they needed in life.
4. The story of the fisherman who died because of breaking his promise.
A businessman in Jiyang sank while crossing the river. He grabbed a hemp pole and shouted for help. A fisherman heard the sound. The businessman quickly shouted: "I am the richest man in Jiyang. If you can save me, I will give you 100 two gold. " . After being rescued ashore, the businessman turned his face and refused to admit it. He only gave the fisherman 10 two gold. The fisherman accused him of breaking his word and going back on his word. The rich man said, "You are a fisherman. I can't make much money in my life. Is it not enough to suddenly get twelve taels of gold? " My husband must be very unhappy. Unexpectedly, the rich man capsized in the same place again.
Someone tried to save him, and the person he cheated said, "He is a man of his word!" " "So the merchant drowned. It is accidental that the businessman capsized twice and met the same husband, but it is expected that the businessman will not be rewarded. Because if a person does not keep his word, he will lose the trust of others. So, once he is in trouble, no one wants to rescue him. Those who break their promises to others, once in trouble, have to sit still.
5, the integrity of the fork in the road
A soldier, not good at long-distance running, quickly fell far behind in an army cross-country race and ran away alone. After several turns, I met a fork in the road, a road marked by an officer; The other road is marked as the path for soldiers to run. He paused. Although he was dissatisfied that being an officer was even cheaper than cross-country races, he still ran towards the road of soldiers. I didn't expect to reach the finish line half an hour later, but I was ranked first. He felt incredible. He has never been ranked, let alone run into the top 50. However, the official in charge of the competition smiled and congratulated him on winning the competition.
A few hours later, a large number of people came, exhausted from running, and surprised to see him win. But suddenly everyone realized how important it is to be honest and trustworthy at the fork in the road.