Mind Feast - Small Stories, Big Life

Author: Tang Yong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: Fostering Loyalty
In a remote area, there lived a couple with their two sons in a small wooden cabin they had built themselves. Alongside them were two wolves. When the wolf cubs were still nursing, their mother was unjustly killed by humans. The family then adopted the little wolf cubs and lived together from then on. One day, while the couple was cutting wood about a mile away from home, one of the children accidentally knocked over a kerosene lamp, and a fierce fire began to engulf the small cabin. The two young boys were trapped inside, crying uncontrollably. At that moment, the two wolves immediately rushed into the blazing cabin, dragging the children to a safe area outside. However, the wolves were severely burned by the fire. By the time the parents returned, the small cabin had turned into a pile of ashes.
Ason arrived at the foot of the Alps and encountered several gods. The gods asked, "Ason, have you ever had a friend?" Ason replied, "Yes, he loves me more than he loves you." This angered the gods, who resolved to kill Ason's friend. They asked who his friend was, but Ason, seeing their malicious intent, refused to reveal his friend's name. The gods then offered their treasures as inducements and promised him a beautiful woman and a king's throne, but Ason remained unmoved. Nevertheless, the gods still captured his friend and used the same tactics to tempt him, offering everything—beauty, wealth, and power—if he betrayed Ason, or threatening to kill him otherwise. Like Ason, his friend neither wavered nor yielded. The gods were moved by their mutual loyalty and secretly let them go down the mountain.
The loyalty of the wolves, and the loyalty between Ason and his friend, moved the heavens and were truly heart-wrenching. Loyalty is a quality—a quality that must be tested and can only be revealed in critical moments. Loyalty is a strength—a strength that commands other strengths, and without which, all other strengths become useless. Loyalty does not boast with grand words; it is the natural expression of a person's innate emotions. Loyalty does not pretend to be something it is not; it is a person's genuine and natural actions. Loyalty does not calculate fame or fortune; it is a person's noble professional virtue. Loyalty is an immortal soul, the lubricant of life, the inherent nature that flows in one's blood. Loyalty is a fundamental duty, the very foundation of being a person.
Jing Ke risked his life to assassinate the Qin Emperor, repaying Prince Dan's favor—a loyalty. Guan Yu refused a generous reward, remaining loyal to his former master—a loyalty. Yue Fei remained loyal to his country, fighting against the Jin invaders—a loyalty. Qian Xuesen broke through all obstacles in the United States and—a loyalty.
Liu Hulan faced the guillotine with unwavering righteousness, turning his loyalty to the Party into a surge of blood. Wang Wei intercepted intruders in the air, turning his loyalty to his country into a daring battle. Kong Fansen gave up his privileged life to root in Ali, turning his loyalty to the people into a final song of life. Huang Kun, as a scientific master, turned his loyalty to his career into a life of solitude.
No matter the reason, if a person loses loyalty, they lose the very foundation of being human, the very essence of integrity.