Confucius

Confucius said:

“One cannot find a place in society until he is courteous, honest, and loyal.”

Reading this quotation today, in the midst of the ongoing political campaigns and primary elections, one has to wonder whether Confucius was even close to being correct in his assessment of society. Today, we rarely think of politicians—people who have a prominent place in our society—as possessing any of the traits that Confucius mentioned: courtesy, honesty, or loyalty. In fact, we tend to think of politicians as being precisely the opposite: rude, dishonest, and two-faced.

Interestingly, politicians were often viewed pretty much the same way in Confucius’s day as they are in our own time. Confucius’s insistence that only worthy people should have a place in society was probably overly optimistic. We have to wonder if our own support for the politicians of our choice and our belief that they will be honest, courteous, and loyal to their constituents is anything more than wishful thinking.