Hello everyone! Here I am again, and today I am going to talk about some pretty serious stuff. "Bushido" and why it is should be in trend. For those, who do not know what this is about, I will give a short explanation. In a nutshell, "Bushido" ("the way of warriors") is a Japanese collective term for the many codes of honour and ideals that dictated the samurai way of life. I am not going to talk about the history and the importance of samurai and "Bushido" for Japan and for the whole world, but I would like to focus on its possible application to the today's society. Because the only possible way to make it happen is, obviously, to change something in one's character.
In order to make everything transparent and precise, I will concentrate on 5 most significant traits of character that can and must be analyzed by each and everyone in terms of their own behaviours. And then I will give a short example of how it can be applied in modern society.
"Fairness" (the principle of "Gi"). Always act in a fair way even when it seems superhard and impossible. A true samurai would never disobey to this rule to make some benefit for themselves.
Ex.: While preparing your CV for an internship, you accidentaly make a mistake: instead of putting your real average grade (3.5), you put the false one (3.9). And here is the question: should you send another specimen with the right information or it would be better to leave everything as it is? Quite a harsh choice, isn't it? Some might argue this, but truth be told, a lie has never brought anyone to the top yet. When your act is unfair, the balance of life starts shaking and it is definitely going to strike back at you before long ."Fortitude" (the principle of "Yu"). A samurai would never try to escape from the hardships, no matter how big they actually are. Samurai is not a robot, fear attacks everyone, but in this case, a man tries to beat the fear, dominate it and then achieve what has been planned.
Ex.: There is a football match. The team has almost lost the game already after the first part. Footballers can now imagine and foresee the fans' reaction. Despite this, as soon as the whistle is blown, the match resumes and the team fight. If your goal seems unattainable, try and try and try and never give in. There is no way back. Everything lies there, in gront. So beat your fear and go further."Kindness" (the principle of "Dzin"). Inspite of the fact, that samurai was taught to kill coldbloodedly, kindness was one of the leading principles in life.
Ex.: There is a class of kids at school. And, as it usually happems, there is on aloof kid. No one is willing to talk to him let alone making friends. A true samurai character would never allow this to happen, because everyone deserves respect and care. Until you get to know the person, all your thoughts, contemplations and stereotypes are pointless. To gathom into someone's life and start judging a person, talk to them first."Honesty" (the principle of "Makoto"). No matter how bitter is the truth, the truth prevails. It is quite complicated and difficult to accept, but truth prevails.
Ex.: A collegue (a friend) of yours asks to help him with his made-up story about where he spent the last night that he is going to tell his wife. According to "the rules of society" a true friend would never let the other one down. But I beleive that this needs some clarification. We certainly have to back our friends up but only when it comes to the goodwill. In this case, by supporting your friend's side, you let down his wife. An innocent woman who does not deserve that kind of betrayal from two people at a time. It is definitely up to you to decide, but truth prevails."Loyalty" (the principle of "Tungi"). A samurai would stay loyal to his master till the death of one or the other. In today's world such kind of loyalty can be applied to your family.
Ex.: A father and a son have passed through quite unstable and volitile relationships. There has been a lot of scandals and misunderstanding. Despite that, both people know that they will always be ready to help and will be iven that help from there closers. We all tend to be very emotional sometimes. But the feeling of loyalty should never leave your mind, as we have to care about those whom we value most.
This article might seem inappropriate in some places, someone might state that those principles are out-of-date. I do not think so. To my mind, we have started to forget what the actual values of life are. Monetarism and fashion trends have overlapped the natural neccessities of people and many of us lost the perception of truth. Hopefully, those values of honour will help some of us to find the way back. See you!