Recently I read of a story
of a Qinghua University doctoral student murdering a neighbor while he was
on a vacation in his hometown. This tragic event was caused by a
controversy over a house this student’s family tried to build. The
neighbor tried to prevent it, because if the wall was set up, it would
block the sunlight for his house. They started to quarrel, which soon
escalated into a fatal fight in which the student killed his neighbor,
leaving a wife widowed, a daughter orphaned, and a family without
financial support. The doctoral student himself and his three brothers
were arrested. Their mother was hospitalized due to injury in the fight.
It was an ugly situation
leading to a tragic end.
It could have ended
differently.
The news story reminded me
of a little lane in my hometown of Tongcheng, Anhui Province. This little
lane is six feet wide, and the name of the lane is called “Six-Foot
Lane”.
This is an ordinary lane by
the way it looks, but it has an extraordinary story behind it.
According to the local
history, Tongcheng is the hometown of Zhang Ying, a Qing Dynasty person
holding one of the highest offices under the Emperor Kang Xi. Zhang was
basically the prime minister of the time – a very powerful man. While he
was working in the capital city of Beijing, his family back in Tongcheng
got into a controversy very similar to the one we just described. His
family wanted to build a house, but the neighbor, who also wanted to build
a house, protested that the wall was beyond the dividing line separating
the territory of the two families. Zhang Ying’s family wrote a letter to
Zhang, requesting him to use his power to twist the situation.
Zhang could, given the
power he had. But instead he sent a letter back home with a poem in it:
A
letter from thousands of miles away
It’s
for a wall you say
Why not
withdraw to three feet away
And
thus end your controversy?
The
Great Wall you can still see
Where is the Emperor who
had it built in the ancient day?
Zhang’s family was greatly
humbled by this letter from their powerful relative. As Zhang suggested,
they decided to take three feet back from the original site. Seeing
Zhang’s family taking this positive step (or steps), the neighbor’s family
was also greatly humbled. Likewise, they also took three feet back. The
two walls thus form a six-foot lane.
In the letter that Zhang
wrote, he mentioned the Great Wall which was originally built as a defense
mechanism to protect an empire from potential invaders from neighboring
states. The person who ordered the Great Wall to be built was Emperor Qin
Shihuang, which literally translated into “The First Emperor of Qin”.
Emperor Qin Shihuang hoped that with him as the first emperor, his
descendents would continue as the second, the third, … till the end of
time. However, the Great Wall failed to protect his family as the ruling
family of all times. The Qin Dynasty was very short-lived. It collapsed
soon after Emperor Qin Shihuang died.
In my mind, the real “Great
Wall” is the one that formed the “Six-foot Lane” in my hometown. Emperor
Qin Shihuang’s Great Wall was meant to divide and defend. Zhang’s wall
humbles and harmonizes. Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Great Wall is a symbol of
power that does not last. Zhang’s wall is a symbol of humility that goes
beyond time. Without Zhang’s wall, the controversy could also turn into a
dead end of hostility or even tragedy.
As a prime minister of the
time, Zhang had all the power he needed to influence such a small
situation as where to have his family build the walls. As a matter of
fact, he could use his power to take over the entire site of the
neighbors. He could just hint at that, and I am pretty sure his
subordinates would help him accomplish it, without even leaving any trace
of being a bully. However, he decided to be humble and tolerant.
What Zhang did became well
known in history, and his poem was often quoted as an example of humility
and reconciliation in the midst of controversies. In the late 1950s,
China and the Soviet Union came into a deadlock of relationships, due to
border disputes and many other issues. In 1958, Chairman Mao of China met
the Soviet Union ambassador to China. He quoted the poem that Zhang wrote
as a suggestion that humility and reconciliation, instead of power and
confrontation, was the secret sauce for peace.
In today’s society, we are
faced with conflicts or controversies of one kind or another almost
everywhere we go. What do we do when these conflicts arise? I would
advise people to learn from Zhang in the humility he showed.
Humility is a divine
virtue. One can see many teachings and examples of this in the Bible.
One important principle that is constantly emphasized by Jesus and His
disciples is forgiveness. When we are faced with conflicts, let’s learn
to take three feet back, to make peace, and to forgive. You might not
find yourself in a situation where you would have to decide to build a
wall close to your neighbor’s territory, but you might constantly find
yourself confronted with your colleague, your friends, or even your family
in similar situations. The Bible tells us “Be angry without doing wrong;
let not the sun go down on your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26). It is easy to
get angry, but we should not allow that to take control of us.
Forgiveness, tempered with humility, may go a long way in our well-being
and relationships.
The Bible does not limit
our extension of humility and forgiveness merely to our friends and
family. The Bible tells us to do this even to our enemy. Look at Jesus.
As the Son of God, He is more powerful than a prime minister. When people
plotted against Him, He could use all His power to destroy them. But what
did He do instead? He asked His Heavenly Father to forgive those people
who cursed Him, beat Him and crucified Him, because He said they did not
know what they were doing. Very often, when I read Jesus’ teachings and
examples of forgiveness and humility, I would think of the little lane in
my hometown.
My dear friends, when
someone offends you or provokes you, when you find yourself in an
uncomfortable controversy, would you learn to take three feet back, to
create a “Six-foot Lane” in your life?
I am sure God would smile
at you if you do.
Last updated: February 23, 2005
