Confucius planned to accomplish a lot in his life and that’s one of the reasons I respect this man. He wasn’t the handsomest kind of guys but he was a great role model and very respectful. Now he’s remembered throughout the world. Even though Confucius didn’t have a great childhood he grew up to be an inspiration to the world.
Confucius say {that’s what Confucius says before every philosophy}”…do you want to know what knowledge is? When you know something, recognize that you know it, and when you don’t know something recognize that you don’t know it, that’s knowledge.” He wasn’t influenced by his parents or anyone else except himself. He pushed himself without much encouragement from others. His father was a seventy year old retired soldier, who married a peasant girl in the city of Lu. She really wanted a baby but could not have one so she went on the mountain to pray, and when she returned back she was in labor. Confucius mom and dad thought he was an UGLY baby with a twisted nose and a bulge in his face, and they said he looked just like his grandfather. Only three years old Confucius was when his father, but I don’t think he really noticed it? His mom was all left alone when she found out their family was to have a huge fortune in the Kong Clan but when they found out she had a son her family fortune was declined and things got worse for them. Although it was hard to get support for his parents he liked the way they were because that’s what made him humble.
Very poor is what he described his childhood as growing up but he said that’s how he got so skillful. He used what he had and never complained about anything. It was said that Confucius was so driven that he would get caught up in his joy and didn’t even worry about eating. [Or bother to care of his age]. As the years passed he became a strong young man and was very skilled in riding a horse, hunting, fishing, and much more than that. Only nineteen years old and he was a manager of a provincial granary and kept watch of oxen and also sheep. He was an energetic man of action and wanted great things for himself when he gets older.
At age fifteen Confucius decided to set his heart on learning. He was said to have a teacher who helped him study but he was mostly self-taught. Confucius was married during these times but we dint know if she died or not, but he still perused studies for his future. Although he couldn’t find good history and literature books where he worked, his studies were still important to him. So instead he found a text from back before his birth. Two certain texts he read were Shujing which was about an old time hero and Shijing was a collection of poems, songs, and hymns. As Confucius got more serious about his studies he decided not to be a herder for the rest of his life so he wanted to do government work.
This philosopher loved to follow his own quotes but he was a pretty funny guy so not all of his sayings were so serious. “A disappointed person helps bring out what is beautiful in other people and discourage what is ugly in them but a too confident person does the opposite.” One of his most famous sayings to his followers was to face the truth. The golden rule was also said by Confucius but in different terms “do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself” that is how he phrased it.
It’s difficult to imagine what he had to go through and how hard to fight for his dreams. Just one person made a huge difference of how people think about things now. He just proved it doesn’t matter the background you come from.
"Don't go through life, GROW through life." 