Introduction
John Sullivan’s article From Living Large dwells on the Confucius’ argument of the small-minded person as well as that of a large-minded person. According to Confucius, these are two possibilities found in the same person. The advice posed by the author is that these people need to recognize times when circumstances force them to assume shallow-mindedness after which they should budge to broad-mindedness. This holds in respect to the relationships that people depict with others, as expected of human beings. The small-minded person is often overactive to situations while the large-minded person is more considerate and mindful of others.
Importance of recognizing the two Levels
According to Sullivan (2004), being able to recognize actions or emotions that are inspired by the small mind is important since it makes people adapt to situations (p.189). Through this, he uses the story of Victor Frankly, a Jew during his times in the concentration camps. He had no liberty to move wherever he felt like but had the freedom in his mind to relate with the situation, a thing that none could take from him. This was made possible by the fact that he recognized his situation and was able to recognize the two levels of his nature. For instance, if he had tried to apply his small mind to the fact that he was in detention, possibilities are that he would have tried such things as engaging the Nazi guards in a fight or even plot escape. This could have possibly endangered his life and that of other inmates who could have been punished because of his reaction. This recognition or the failure to recognize the two levels determines where a person shows reactivity or pro-activity in different situations.
The reader learns how people face situations that require them to keep calm in their pursuit of getting the best possible solutions, free of lamentations. These range from medical conditions that require people to calm and learn how to live with the conditions introduced by the problems. Sullivan (2004) tells the story of his wife Gregg in this article who after realizing that she had cancer decided not to give up in the situation knowing that this had completely changed her life (p.189). Similar cases are evident in the contemporary world whereby people, unable to recognize the two levels of their situations especially when caught up in medical conditions, end up dying for no apparent reasons. These include the HIV/AIDS condition. A person diagnosed with this condition and whom through his/her failure to recognize the two levels can end up living in denial and consequently seeking desperate measures rather than simply following the doctor’s advice and undergoing the ART.
The teaching story of Harriet highlights the need to be mindful of other people’s conditions before dismissing them as not considerate. Harriet ends up regretting simply because she allows the dominion of hatred for her mother and accusations of not loving her. She does this without considering the conditions of her mother. If only she can relate her situation of constantly, being sent to live her grandmother and being brought back and again employing the large mind, she can develop pity for her mother, who has no choice, other than handling menial jobs to sustain herself and the young daughter. Through considering liberty and freedom in one’s life as, argued in the article he/she can live with the conditions and situations brought forth by life.
Conclusion
Recognition of the two levels of people’s personalities is important in that it shapes their characters influencing their reactions towards different situations. These reactions determine whether they succeed in overcoming these situations or not. There are dangers related to certain reactions to situations and so it is advisable, as addressed in the article to be proactive and recognize the freedom that one has in the different situations.
Reference
Sullivan, J. (2004). The Ethics of Virtue. Tai: Sophia Press. Print.