Three classic stories: what is the spirit of contract

In the United States, on the banks of the Hudson River in New York, less than 100 meters away from the mausoleum of U.S. 18th President Grant, there is a child's grave. On a wooden plaque next to the grave, there is a story:

On July 15, 1797, a five-year-old child fell off a cliff and died, and the child's parents were so distraught that they built a grave for the child at the cliff.

The father, who had to transfer the land due to the family's decline, made a special request to the new owner: to keep the child's grave as part of the land forever.

The new owner agreed to this condition and put it in the deed. 100 years later, the land had been sold to many families, but the child's grave remained there.

In 1897, the land was chosen as a mausoleum for President General Grant, and the boy's grave remained intact as a neighbor to Grant's mausoleum.

Another 100 years passed, and in July 1997, on the 100th anniversary of the completion of General Grant's mausoleum, the then Mayor of New York came to the site, and while honoring General Grant, he refurbished the child's grave and personally wrote the story of the child's grave so that it would be passed down through the generations.

That contract, which has lasted 200 years, reveals a simple truth: if you promise something, you must do it.

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It is this spirit of contract that has given birth to the concept of integrity in the West. They believe that the inherent talent and wealth between people is not equal, but can be replaced by moral and legal equality, so that individuals who are initially unequal have full equality in social norms and legal rights.

But in contemporary China, it is more about being smart than being honest. It is precisely because of this social culture of "cleverness" that the relationship between people is damaged, and the most obvious manifestation of this is to guard against each other. City buildings have security doors, security windows in every home, everywhere is a high fence, but we still live insecure.

Second, an old wives' tale

There is a story that the winter of 1935 was one of the most economically depressed periods in the United States. On this day, a case was being heard in a courtroom in a poor neighborhood in New York City.

Standing at the defense table was an old woman in her sixties. She was dressed in rags and was full of sorrow. More than anything else, the sadness was a look of shame. She was sued by the owner of the bakery for stealing bread from the bakery.

The judge interrogated, "Defendant, did you indeed steal the bread from the bakery?"

The old lady bowed her head and mumbled her answer, "Yes, your honor, I did steal it."

The judge then asked, "What was your motive for stealing the bread, was it because you were hungry?"

"Yes." The old woman raised her head, looked at the judge with both eyes, and said, "I was hungry, but I needed the bread more to feed my three grandchildren who had lost their parents and who hadn't eaten for days. I can't stand by and watch them starve to death. They are still some little children!"

Chattering and low voices rang out in the gallery at the old woman's words.

The judge banged his gavel and said solemnly, "Silence, the following sentence is announced." With that, the judge turned his face to the old woman, "Defendant, I must be impartial and enforce the law. You have two choices: a fine of ten dollars or ten days' detention?"

With a look of pain and remorse on her face, the old lady faced the judge and said with difficulty, "Your Honor, I broke the law and am willing to accept the penalty. If I had 10 dollars, I would not have stolen the bread. I am willing to be detained for 10 days, but who will take care of my three little grandchildren?"

At that moment, a man in his forties stood up from the gallery, bowed to the old woman, and said, "Please accept the sentence of $10." With that, he turned to face the others in the gallery, pulled out $10, took off his hat and put it in, and said, "Gentlemen, I am LaGuardia, the current mayor of the city of New York, and I now ask that each of you please pay a 50-cent fine, which pays for our indifference, in order to penalize us for living in a city where old grandmothers are expected to steal bread to feed their grandchildren. "

The courtroom, all astonished, looked at Mayor LaGuardia with wide eyes. The courtroom was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop on the floor. In a few moments, all the spectators stood up in silence, and each one earnestly took out 50 cents and put it into the mayor's hat, even the judge.

Why should it be the business of outsiders, as a matter of course, that an old woman should be fined for stealing bread? La Guardia made it clear - pay for our indifference.

He told us that people are not isolated from each other, and that people come to this world as social animals, and there is a contract: a legal contract for material interests; a spiritual contract for behavioral interactions.

Goodness is not only a quality opposed to indifference, treachery, cruelty, and selfishness, but also a spiritual contract.

Third, a pastor's story

A German Protestant pastor named Martin Niemoller, who inscribed a short poem on the Jewish Holocaust Memorial in Boston, USA:

In Germany, at first they went after so-and-so's and I did not speak up because I was not a so-and-so's; then they went after the Jews and I did not speak up because I was not a Jew; Then they went after the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant; and finally they came running at me, and no one stood up for me any more.

This is the ultimate end of reneging on the spiritual contract.

In life, everyone may encounter danger and hardship, and everyone may become weak. If we do not help others in times of crisis, who can guarantee that we will not swallow the bitter fruit of isolation?

The human heart can only be illuminated by the sun if it is oriented to goodness, and that is why the contract of goodness is prevalent in the world. Those who know how to cherish this kind of contract are noble. Those who know how to pay for indifference are wise. Today's society is too indifferent, we will pay for our own selfishness.