The bible tells us that humans are given the freedom to choose. Whether he believes in the law of God, in the law of evil or entirely in the law of man, it is his choice and he is accountable for it. And within these options given to him, comes the battles he ought to face in whatever way he could.
Every person battles in life – it is a battle within his self, within his family and within his society. In the treatise that Sun Tzu wrote, I let what he called war as the battles of life, enemy as the obstacles that makes life worth fighting for, allies as the instruments which help a man to get into his goal, army as the senses that can be manipulated by the general and the general as the person who drives his armies.
Sun Tzu said …
“In the operations of war, where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots, as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand mail-clad soldiers, with provisions enough to carry them a thousand lies, the expenditure at home and at the front, including entertainment of guests, small items such as glue and paint, and sums spent on chariots and armor, will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day. Such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men.”
By this, I‘d like to say that: indeed, life is full of deceptions. What we see as gold is simply a sparkling yellow that will soon turn into rust. Similarly the people we meet in our journey are not all genuine on what they are showing us; it is because they too have hidden intentions that they keep to win their own battles. Thus, we should not expect to be the only one who is good, who has the spirit to win or who has the blaze of a prudent warrior. Everyone has such a soul to fight and spirit to win in any way they could.
But even so, Sun Tzu reminds us that we should always fight as fairly as possible and do our best to win such uprisings as he said...
“It is the rule in war, if our forces are ten to the enemy's one, to surround him; if five to one, to attack him; if twice as numerous, to divide our army into two. If equally matched, we can offer battle; if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy; if quite unequal in every way, we can flee from him.”
Sun Tzu also raised the idea that human should not be panicky about all the problems and pressure that circumstances offer us. We should abide with these obligations and must be able to handle them with carriage. I believe this lesson fits best to people who tends to hurry with their lives. People who rush on things worry too much and the anxiety that envelopes them pulls them down which hinders their dreams being achieved. This situation is evident in the generation today. When I was young, I remember to still be playing patintero and takyan even when I am already 16 but as I notice nowadays, girls who are 13 to 15 are already very conscious about their physique. It is understandable to be conscious with the hygienic aspects but it is quite strange (for these very young girls) to be so vain about make-up kits, facial wash, toners and even about boy – girl relationships. They tend to hurry with their lives that they grow-up too soon. They did not enjoy their youth to the fullest which (I believe) is one of the reasons for some complications in their adulthood. They better know what was said by the ancients (as retold by Sun Tzu) about a clever fighter…
“…a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.”
Life itself is a huge war composing little episodes of surviving. And one of these episodes is the battle of students not to be late in school especially when the class is an hour after sunrise; in fact, I am one of these students (in my tertiary) who try hard not to be late in my class and succumb to pass my requirements on time. Being punctual in almost everything is one asset that helps us become victorious; this was implied by Sun Tzu when he said…
“Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted. Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.”
I also would like to quote on to an analogy that struck me most in the novel, it goes…
“Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing.”
This line tells us that we should be vigilant enough to know who or what we are up to. We need to see the omens for us to be aware of the realities in life; we shouldn’t live our lives in fairy tales. We must be able to use our brains to fight the struggle of living. We have to go with the flow of life but we must be sure about what we really want and what we need. We need to set our priorities and principles and be able to stand and defend it from distractions; however, we should also know when to bend because there is nothing more constant in this life but change.
Also in life, we should not be close minded. We have to open both our hearts and our minds to all opinions, comments etc. For in this way we will become better. Through these people who correct us, we are enlightened and we become wiser in dealing with our battles. Just like wars in history, life’s battle is a series of winning and loosing; nevertheless, we can outnumber our loss if we open ourselves to other people’s suggestions. In this way, we will become more equipped in the next battles that we will face.
Finally, let us not forget what Sun Tzu said…
“Let your rapidity be that of the wind, your compactness that of the forest. In raiding and plundering be like fire, is immovability like a mountain. Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”
Now, I say, in life or in any battles that we will go through: we have to be strong and be optimistic that whatever hardship that goes into us will all take off.
LILO 092508
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