Night 4 Confucius & the Analects Story 1

Confucius Loses in Life, Wins After Death

A poor born teacher spends years looking for political use and becomes world famous too late to enjoy it. The job offer arrives after death, which is bullshit timing. Confucius is not a school assembly poster. He is a stubborn teacher trying to make decent people while bad bosses and petty little shits keep running the room.

The Teacher Is Tired For A Reason

A glass hits the table.
Yuma
Yuma
A poor born teacher spends years looking for political use and becomes world famous too late to enjoy it.
The job offer arrives after death, which is bullshit timing.
Daisuke
Daisuke
So he is not wagging a finger. He is trying not to lose his mind around idiots.
Yuma
Yuma
Confucius is not a school assembly poster.
He is a stubborn teacher trying to make decent people while bad bosses and petty little shits keep running the room.
Aoi
Aoi
That makes the quotes way less boring.
Yuma
Yuma
The dirt here is power, ego and social cowardice.
People want titles, praise and advantage, then act shocked when their character looks like crap.

Power Makes Character Show

Yuma
Yuma
Confucius is not powerful in the usual success story way.
Daisuke
Daisuke
That is where the whole room starts to understand the damage.
Yuma
Yuma
His authority comes from endurance and teaching.
Daisuke
Daisuke
Ancient workplace therapy, basically.
Yuma
Yuma
The mismatch between life and afterlife fame makes him easier to remember.
The pain is that he keeps trying to build character in a world where the loudest people are often the worst people in the room.

Why The Lines Still Work

Yuma
Yuma
It survives because the lines are short, but they hit real life: learning, losing, not being recognized, reading people and not becoming a small person.
Aoi
Aoi
So the classic survives because the human stupidity is still alive.
Yuma
Yuma
Exactly. Confucius and the Analects is not alive because the names are old.
It is alive because people still want sex, rank, praise, control, revenge, approval or a clean little excuse for their bullshit.
Daisuke
Daisuke
That is unfortunately very easy to understand.

The Line That Hits Too Close

Yuma
Yuma
The pain is that he keeps trying to build character in a world where the loudest people are often the worst people in the room.
Aoi
Aoi
That is the bit that makes the old story suddenly feel way too close.
Yuma
Yuma
The Analects lasts because it is not clean motivational wallpaper.
It is a manual for not turning into a small, greedy little shit.
Daisuke
Daisuke
Yeah, that is going to stick whether I like it or not.

FAQ

Q. What is Confucius Loses in Life, Wins After Death about?
A. A poor born teacher spends years looking for political use and becomes world famous too late to enjoy it. The job offer arrives after death, which is bullshit timing.
Q. What is the first thing to notice?
A. Confucius is not powerful in the usual success story way.
Q. Why does it still hit?
A. A poor born teacher spends years looking for political use and becomes world famous too late to enjoy it. The job offer arrives after death, which is bullshit timing. The pain is that he keeps trying to build character in a world where the loudest people are often the worst people in the room.

Up next

If this happened todayCompliance trouble meter★★★★

Mostly legal, spiritually embarrassing.

Just for fun: a reading of which articles of present-day Japanese law the original events might brush up against. Article numbers only.

Quiz yourself (original questions)

Not copied from past papers. These are original practice questions written for this article. Give them a go.

Q1What makes Confucius Loses in Life, Wins After Death memorable?