Accountancy Future

President Xi Jinping of China once shared:

When I was a small child, I was very selfish and I would only have the best for myself. Eventually, everyone left me, even my friends. I've never faulted myself and only redirected mistakes to others and criticised them.

But my dad taught me some very important principles.

One day, he cooked 2 bowls of noodles and laid them on the table. One had an egg on top and the other bowl didn't have any, which he then asked me to choose a bowl. Back then, eggs were hard to come by! 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 overjoyed and proud of my wise choice/decision and happily consumed the egg. To my surprise, as my father ate his noodles, there were TWO eggs at the bottom of his noodles! I regretted so much! And I 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 intend 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 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 be too annoyed or sad. Just treat this as a lesson learnt. You cannot learn this from textbooks.

The third day, my father cooked 2 bowls of noodles again, like previously, 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 certain 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! When you think for the good of others, good things will always naturally happen to you!"

From then on, I have been living my life with these 3 principles. In everything I do, regardless of personal matter or business matters, I've always placed others ahead of me and think for them.

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～ 习近平

Sources: Accountancy future 2018 article