Worry Not About Scarcity, but About Unevenness

answered by Analects of Confucius, Ji Shi

기원전 5세기(공자 언행록)

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

Beijing Bicycle (2001)

dir. Wang Xiaoshuai · China

When two people cling, each with a just story, to a single object, whose right comes first? When both have had something taken from them, is not what pains us not the scarcity of the thing, but the fact that it was not shared out fairly?

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

Do I see the cause of conflict only as 'shortage,' missing the truly painful point — unfairness?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

不患寡患不均

不患寡而患不均

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

Do not worry that there is little, but that it is unevenly shared.

💡 TL;DR

Confucius said the worry of governance lies not in scarcity but in uneven sharing.

📝The Classic Answers

Confucius said the worry of governance lies not in scarcity but in uneven sharing. More than shortage itself, the heart is wounded when what exists is not shared fairly. When two cling, each with a just story, to a single thing, the real wound is not the object's scarcity but that neither was treated fairly. Before reducing a conflict to a matter of shortage, I choose first to see whether the pain of unfairness lies within it.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

If a conflict today seemed to be about shortage, look for the ache of 'this is unfair' lying beneath it.

📖 Classic Source: Analects of Confucius, Ji Shi. Ancient text in the public domain; rendered and interpreted independently by ONGO.
The film is honored as an equal questioner; its plot is rendered only as a universal dilemma. The classic source is an ancient text (Public Domain), and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.