President Xi Jing Peng of China said:
When I was a small child, I was very selfish, always grabbing the best for myself. Slowly, everyone avoided me and I had no friends. I didn’t think it was my fault but criticised others.
My father gave me three principles to help me in life.
One day, my father cooked two bowls of noodles put them on the table. One bowl had an egg on the top and the other bowl did not have any egg on top.
He said, ”My child, choose which bowl you want to eat from.”
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. Then, to my surprise, as my father ate his noodles, there were two eggs at the bottom of his bowl beneath the noodles!
I regretted so much! And scolded myself for being too hasty in my decision.
My father smiled and sad to me, “My child, you must remember that 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 two 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 asked me to choose.
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 again cooked two bowls of noodles, again one bowl with an egg on top and the other bowl with no egg on top. 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. I picked up my bowl of noodles, sure in my heart that there is 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 of the good of others, good things will happen to you!”