I'm looking for one of about 2,000 words, describing good times and bad times!

How long is a person's life? Children look forward to growing up, looking forward to leaving home, looking forward to creating a world of their own; to really grow up, but began to stay, began to reluctant to give up, began to be afraid of losing the life of the things that have already been obtained, but also afraid of the outside world will not be able to withstand the wind and rain. Life is originally so contradictory, life and death, love and hate, passion and plain, persistence and abandonment, as in the good times and bad times.

Look at others, look at yourself, think of others, think of yourself, in fact, the good times, the bad times, is never an absolute thing. What is a good situation, said the mood is happy, get all the things they want, and see the hope of the road ahead? What is the so-called adversity, is it just the opposite, every day in the reality do not like to bump into, difficult for themselves, very much want a thing but can not get, obviously has been in the hands of the thing, but suddenly disappeared?

However, many times in life, but precisely, you think it is the time of the good times, thought the road ahead is smooth sailing, thought all things are taken for granted, but there will be a sudden change you can not foresee, everything such as a mirror, empty joy, and even the original hands have a loss. Because the world is full of variables, the only constant is the change itself - this seems to be a phrase I often say, and like to enjoy the feeling.

From this point of view, the good times are actually the most dangerous times for people. Because you're happy, because you're excited, because you're confident, because you have too much hope and demand for the road ahead, because you never think you'll lose, and therefore, can't see the hidden crises and traps on the road ahead, and won't think about the thorns behind the flowers as well. So the good times and the bad times are only a hair's breadth apart.

So I believe that everyone will encounter adversity, how to deal with adversity, is the most important subject in life. Because adversity is the crossroads of life and the touchstone of life. Adversity is sometimes like a watershed in life, what kind of person you want to be, how you can control your life, only in adversity, will be at a glance, and only after adversity, you can do a person you want to do.

I often feel that, in the face of adversity, there will be three kinds of people, take three different attitudes:

One kind is to change themselves to adapt to the environment, since they can not get, then do not think about it, resting on their laurels, what life gives me, what I have to bear, the soldiers come to the block, the water and earth flooding, both come to the peace; The second kind is not willing to bow to the reality of the pursuit of obsession to change the status quo and life, the more frustrated, the more courageous; the third kind is reluctant to bow to the reality, to change the status quo and life! The third is probably to lament their lack of success, complaining that life is too unfair, and always feel that others owe them a lot.

The first kind of people, I think deserve respect and understanding, their courage lies in taking up the pressure and heavy burden of life, responsible for their own choices; the second kind, also the courage of life, because they know how to for their own goals and dedication; only the third kind of people, I don't think there is any desirable place.

There is another kind of people, from the good times or adversity over, the mind is tolerant and open-minded, from now on there is no longer a good times and adversity, the mood is calm and light, know how to enjoy the process of life, understand that gain and loss is inevitable in the life of the things that happen, and more will not be because of the results of success or failure to get grudgingly. This is what I aspire to, the fourth kind of person.

Successful situation, superior position, rich wealth, comfortable life, seems to be the favorable conditions for the development of individuals, families and even the nation. But history and real experience has repeatedly told us that a person in a superior position often has to pay a heavy price for his enjoyment of all kinds of superiority.

The defeat of Hannibal, the "general of the century," in the Second Punic War was explained by a modern historian as follows:

The plain of Capua was kind to mankind, while the plain of Rome was cold and unforgiving. While the Romans left their homes, where they could not make a living, to conquer neighbor after neighbor, the Capuans stayed at home and let neighbor after neighbor conquer them. ...... Yet, at a crucial moment in one of the most important wars in Roman history, the morning after the Battle of Cannae, the Capuans opened their doors to Hannibal and "rewarded" Rome with this act. Both Rome and Hannibal saw the turn of the Capuans as the most important outcome of the war, perhaps the decisive event. Hannibal went into Capua to spend the winter there - and at this point something unexpected happened. After one winter in Gapua, the morale of Hannibal's army completely disintegrated, and from that point on, his army was never able to win a battle.

In contrast to Hannibal, it was an Eastern monarch who was more cunning and wise. Herodotus, the father of Western history, depicted Cyrus, King of Persia, in this way: A man named Ardenbales went to him and made the following proposal:

Now that the great god Zeus has given his territory to the nation Persia and to his majesty, in that case why don't we move out of the rugged and rocky place where we are now living, to a better and more beautiful place? place where we now live and move out to a better place? There are many good places nearby, and even more good places farther away. We only have to pick and choose, and we can make a great name for ourselves in the world. That's a sure way for a mighty people to do it, and we couldn't have had a better chance today, since we've built an empire over a large and populous area, all over Asia.

Cyrus listened quietly, not interested. He told the people who pleaded with him that they were free to do as they pleased, but for this matter he said that a change of place in the heart must also prepare for a change of people. He told them that comfort will produce men without exception who have no guts.

Stories close to Hannibal's are well documented in Chinese history. It is comparable to the battle between Wu and Yue during the Spring and Autumn period, in which Goujian finally defeated the extravagant and indulgent Fu Zhai. And there are numerous philosophers in China who held the same ideas as Cyrus. Confucius said: "Riches and wealth are like floating clouds to me. The ...... gentleman has no need to live in peace, and no need to eat to be full." Mencius said, "Born in sorrow, die in peace and happiness. ...... Heaven's will descend a great task is also, must first suffer its mind, labor its muscles and bones, starve its body and skin ......" Despite the lessons of the past, despite the sage's words of wisdom, in the 5000 years of China's history, we see the Still is a famous family noble general replacement, the family luck five generations will not decline to become a good home management talk. In the eyes of modern people, the most typical example of the decline of the anointed children is the Manchurian Eight Banners children. This nation on horseback was once valor and swarthy, "riding and shooting" is their tradition for generations. But only 100 years after becoming a parasitic ruling class, the descendants of these warriors on horseback degenerated into useless mediocrities - cage-bearers who frequented teahouses and theaters. Even without the Xinhai Revolution, they have long had to give military power to the Han Chinese strongman. In fact, the reason for the decline of the Manchus, several generations of rulers of the Qing dynasty had insight. Yongzheng said, the eight banners in the children of the "poor is to food and fresh clothes of the reason also". Qianlong said, the flag people "only know the fresh clothes and food, swings the cost of money, the habit of wind, do not know repentance, the rate of poverty of the flag people due to this." Jiaqing said: "by the weekdays do not know how to economize. If you can clothes and food both at any time to save money, can be free from want." However, the Qing dynasty, several generations of the son of the three orders, advocate riding and shooting, advocate thrift, still unable to restore the declining trend.

The Manchus, although the later for the Central Plains, but their failure to implement the Chinese aristocrats throughout the generations of the fall of the reflection, because the aristocrats to the fall of the abundance of, so the "Yen's family training", "Zeng Wenzheng Gong family book" is regarded as a treasure - that almost know it is not possible to do for the teachings of the. Read a few paragraphs of Zeng Guofan's aphorisms for teaching children:

Where the family of an official, it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, and difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. You are still young, do not love luxury, not habitual laziness.

My view of the countryside, the poorer the children of the more lowly the more likely to grow up, the richer the children of the more delicate the more difficult to become a tool.

The situation is too smooth, no difficulties and horizontal stimulation of the time, it is difficult to expect their growth.

Tzeng basically believes that the smooth situation, wealth and luxury are greatly detrimental to growth and success.

Many Westerners hold similar views. Iacocca said:

The greatest and the best of mankind are born in the school of poverty. It is the school of the rising spirit, the only school that produces great men and geniuses.

Sociologist Pareto's words are even more famous in the social sciences:

History is the tomb of the aristocracy.

It seems to be a paradox that good times are instead detrimental to development. Because then for development, good times become bad times instead, and bad times become good times instead. Success, wealth, comfort, after all, is the goal of most people, and once you get it, immediately lead to the opposite, which is not confusing! But this is not a paradox, but a cycle that seems to be true in reality. In the case of a family or even a nation, there is no such thing as a long-lasting cycle; historically, it has been more often the case that there is a cycle of growth and decline, a cycle that goes on and on and on. As far as society is concerned, just as Pareto said, "history is the grave of the aristocracy", there are always corrupt aristocrats declining or eliminated, and there are always new elites emerging from the commoners, and there is no vacuum in the position of the elites. However, because the social pyramid is always "large at the bottom and small at the top, not everyone at the bottom can be involved in this 'elite cycle'". Pareto's idea is in line with our proposition of "the price of good times" and is a perspective for understanding the "elite cycle". Historically, the more powerful people are in the cycle of social status, the more they have to pay a terrible price for the status they have acquired. This is firstly because the status has changed so much that they are unable to resist the temptation to enjoy themselves and maintain their old mentality. Secondly, it is also because of their lack of connection with traditional culture, from which they failed to learn the way to cultivate themselves, their families and their country, and thus became even more unruly.

Why do people in good times and favorable conditions often have to pay the price? What are they missing? From an objective point of view, what they lack is the right amount of pressure. Too little pressure leads to too little stimulation, and thus weakens the motivation of the person concerned to adapt and advance. Many psychologists believe that stress is an integral part of everyone's life. Even Hans Sely, a psychologist who specializes in the harmful effects of stress, admits: "Stress is the stimulus of life. Stress cheers us up and keeps us alive." Experiments by Berline have shown that both humans and other animals respond more to complex, novel, and unexpected stimuli. Experiments by Linzer et al. showed that "those young animals used to withstand electric shock and toe-clipping threat tests appeared to cope better with stressful situations when they grew up than did their littermates who had not been subjected to stress in their early years." Superior conditions at an early age undoubtedly release heavy stress and are not conducive to the development of a strong character in the individual concerned.

We can also borrow psychologist Adler's theory to see this phenomenon through. Adler believed that: all people are inferior at the beginning of life; inferiority complex is the main driving force behind the achievements of all people. He initially linked the feeling of inferiority to physical defects; a person with a defect may endeavor to strengthen that organ or compensate for the defect by developing the functions of other organs. A kind of overcompensation allows him to achieve a superlative level of development. For example, Demosthenes in ancient Greece overcame his stutter to become a great orator; Caesar, Alexander, and Roosevelt all gained amazing development when they overcame their physical defects. Adler, of course, pointed out that low self-esteem can hinder a person's development when it becomes a complex. Later Adler expanded the conditions underlying low self-esteem, linking it not only to physical but also to mental and social handicaps. Adler also sees the pursuit of superiority as the other end of the spectrum of motivation as opposed to overcoming inferiority. In this way, we can understand that the acquisition of superiority may weaken motivation, and because the conditions of superiority are less likely to produce generalized inferiority and "overcompensation" for overcoming it, they are less likely to produce extraordinary people.

So is it true that good times and favorable conditions must be paid for? We say that Cyrus's foresight is admirable, but his attitude is undesirable, a kind of cynicism in disguise. It is also possible that because of his lack of enterprise, afraid to take the risk of going into new territory, Persia finally did not contribute to human civilization in the same way that Greece did. To enter a good situation, to be in a position of superiority, one must be prepared for a change, and the more prepared one is, the more likely it is that the cost will be reduced. The cost of good times, after all, is the weakening of the motivating stimulus and the loss of the goal of progress. Therefore, when circumstances change, it is necessary to quickly find alternative pressures, alternative stimuli, and alternative new goals. The conditions under which feelings of inferiority and superiority arise are not isolated; they come from contrasts - contrasts with one's own past, contrasts with the people around one. Therefore, a family ruler like Zeng Guofan wanted to weaken the contrast between his family and the people around him through strict self-restraint and frugality, to weaken the contrast between his family's present situation and the past when he had struggled hard, and to keep on giving his children lofty goals to stimulate people to strive for progress. No family or nation is everlasting, but their respective prosperity after all, there are qualitative and quantitative differences, visible choice, hard work and self-awareness of the role can not be erased.

It is because of the suffering, adversity, and even physical defects, produced and created some great people, in the minds of many people then produced a kind of worship of suffering and adversity, and this worship is often blind and negative. First of all, a positive and healthy life, even in good times, endeavors to set itself new and noble goals, to meet new difficulties and obstacles in the pursuit of this goal, and thus to develop and display its own personality; and it is neither possible nor desirable to retrogress or to remain (as Cyrus did) in the midst of hardship to keep one's heart and mind in the midst of suffering. Secondly, adversity is far from being a sufficient condition for the creation of a positive personality; countless people in distress and adversity have no incentive to change the status quo. We can find at least two reasons for this lack of stimulation in adversity: (a) the environment is closed, and uncontrasted suffering does not give the people involved more stimulation; (b) the environment is stifling, and the people in it do not see any opportunity to change or jump out of it, so they resign themselves to their fate. The pressure of adversity can make or break some people. Excessive low self-esteem generated by adversity can disintegrate a person's vitality.

Different circumstances work differently for people. Good times and bad times, suffering and comfort cost the people involved differently. Our philosophy is not to state and analyze these costs in order to make people think differently or to justify their own degradation and depression, but to help them recognize the relationships and adapt better to the fluctuations of status and the changes of environment.