Attend Carefully to the End

answered by Analects, Xue Er

기원전 5세기(공자 언행록)

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

Departures (2008)

dir. Yojiro Takita · Japan

A person finds an unexpected calling in work the world shuns as lowly. Should he be ashamed of it by others' eyes, or trust the dignity that dwells in it when met with sincerity?

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

Even in work the world deems lowly, can I find dignity and a calling?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

愼終追遠民德歸厚矣

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

Attend carefully to the end and remember those long gone, and the people's virtue returns to depth.

💡 TL;DR

Confucius said that when we attend carefully to the end and remember the departed with sincerity, a people's virtue deepens.

📝The Classic Answers

Confucius said that when we attend carefully to the end and remember the departed with sincerity, a people's virtue deepens. Even in work the world deems lowly, deep dignity dwells in hands that tend a person's final passage with care. Though others' eyes belittle the work, one who has found in it a calling that joins life and death need not be ashamed. High and low are divided not by the kind of work but by the heart that meets it. I choose to weigh a role's worth not by others' pricing but by how sincerely I meet the work.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

If you do work others see as trivial today, re-measure its weight by the sincerity you bring to it.

📖 Classic Source: Analects, Xue Er. 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.