Lessons from My Father: President Xi Jing Peng of China

President Xi Jing Peng of China said:

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

My father gave me 3 sentences to help me in life.

One day, my father cooked 2 bowls of noodles put the 2 bowls on the table. One bowl had one egg on top and the other bowl did 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! We only got to eat eggs during festivals or New Year. Of course I chose the bowl with the egg! As we started eating. I was congratulating myself on my wise choice/decisision and eat 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 my choice so much and scolded myself for being too hasty in my decision. My father smiled and said to me, ”My child. You must remember, what your eyes see may not be true. If you are intent on taking advantage of people, you will end up losing!”

The next day, my father again cooked 2 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 thought I was 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 because sometimes, life can cheat you or play tricks on you. But you must not get annoyed or be sad. Just treat this as learning a lesson .You cannot learn this from textbooks.

The third day, my father again cooked 2 bowls of noodles, again one bowl with an egg on top and the other bowl with no egg on top. He put the 2 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 ate my bowl of noodles, I was sure in my heart that there was 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 that when you think for the good of others, good things will always naturally happen to u!”

I always remember these 3 sentences of my father and lived and do my business accordingly. True enough, my business was a roaring success.

Xi Jing Peng