Tues. Oct. 2. Fine

In the morning, I read an article that about the reason why we honor Confucius.

Confucius is one of the great men of the world. The first reason why we honor him is his enthusiasm and persistence in saving the sinful world. We know that during Confucius’ time almost everything went wrong and society was so wicked and demoralized that kings were killed by ministers, and father were put to death by their sons. Confucius, being a wise and virtuous man, thought that it was his duty to save the world. He could have been a high official or a very rich man if he had sought to become one. But the spirit of sacrifice was predominant in him. He came to serve others, not to be served by others.

The second reason is that he helped to preserve our ancient civilization. During his life almost every part of China was disturbed and there was war everywhere. Literature and the doctrines of the ancient sages would have been totally destroyed if Confucius had not preserved them. He collected many classical works and arranged them in order, and compiled some valuable books, which are widely read by Chinese scholars and which are now even introduced to the western world.

The third and the last reason is that Confucius imparted to us many lofty ideals, which we can put into practice in our daily life at the present time. They can help us to build up a strong and perfect character.