Monday, March 05, 2007

BYJ's Virtues 101 - Prudence

Recently have no luxury of reading and writing for long. Thought might as well just write down whatever is on my mind at the moment.

The other day I ran across bb's blog and overheard some unpleasant comments made in KOB. This made me think about BYJ again. Of course, everyone knows by now that it is yet another BYJ syndrome of mine to relate any events, big or small, to BYJ.

What made BYJ popular? Some would say it's his heavenly look. Some would say it's his sensual body. Some would say it's his perfecting performance. Some would say it's his fascinating work. Or maybe it's his luck, or his charming personality. All of these are true, but one thing I would like to point out, is one of the keys to his success - PRUDENCE!

In my past education I was taught that there are four cardinal virtues in life - Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance. And all the other virtues are derived from or grouped around them. The very first one of the four is Prudence. See how pivotal it is. Our BYJ mastered it by heart. By the way,take a good look at BYJ and you'll see that he has demonstrated all of the four cardinal virtues in his life.

A simple definition of Prudence is "right reason in action", writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle. We need to dispose good practical reasons in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it. In another word, we need to think thrice before we take an action or say anything.

BYJ himself once commented about his success, was mostly due to his prudence (translated into Chinese is 谨言慎行). He has been prudence in selecting his roles, prudence in accepting CMs, prudence in commenting on political events, prudence in explaining morals of his movies, even prudence in answering questions in interviews, such as why he stopped eating spicy rice cakes. He is often viewed as slow in speaking, but I would think that is because he has been fast in thinking and prudence in examining what words and expressions would be proper to be released out of himself.

What makes a person popular? A simple answer would be a person who makes people happy. A person who does not hurt others. Imagine BYJ being judgmental, critical, negative to people around him, will he stay popular? I am sure as smart as BYJ, he knows this deeply. Why does BYJ smiles all the time? Won't he be tired of it? I've got an simple answer - because BYJ is prudent - courtesy is always welcome. No matter how tiring it takes, BYJ will always smile to his fans. Now matter how badly we fans begged him to stop smiling and do whatever he wishes to do, BYJ will always smile to his fans. Why? He answered "because I am happy", but I say Prudence! Even that answer was out of prudence.

Note prudence is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation.
It guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. BYJ's smiles are coming out of his Loving heart + Self control! They are all governed and measured by the prudence - careful thinking and control of his actions and speeches. One hurting word, one frown, will erase the effect of a thousand smiles. BYJ knows it clearly and he will never let it happen!

Can we learn something from him? We are all smart people. It will just take a little more effort of us to learn a little bit from the man we set our eyes on, then it is hopeful that this world may be a little happier.

Sounds like a pretty good lecturing, huh? Yes, it has been H's habit of lecturing herself since she has memory.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

dear h,

Thank you for your insightful message. You'r always able to maintain your cool analytical mind to put everything in perspective. How lucky I am to have a friend like you. Please keep reminding me of why I am here in the BYJ family and the one man we are doing this for - the prudent Mr. BYJ. He's an excellent example for us to follow.

Please continue w/ justice, fortitude and temperance. I love to read about his practice on those areas too. Great writing!

love .... Jaime

bbmag said...

oops... i must have slipped on this one. hehe, if i were prudent like wuri yong joon, maybe i wouldn't have created 'that unfortunate incident' :p

but headstrong like i am, i guess sometimes it's hard to let something like that go.

thanks for sharing, H :)

mrs a said...

well said heippieh! And you are right on - he does have prudence. He exhibits it all through out his life it seems. I wish we all had more of it. I can't understand why confrontations have to exist - if we would all rejoice in our differences,compromise and be more understanding what a world it would be! Wishful thinking, huh?

Thanks for another wonderful blog!

Anonymous said...

dear h, mrs a and bb,

after reading your comments and the post again. I vaguely remember a saying (is it chinese or the bible?) goes something like this (please don't laugh at me) : "we see the splinters in other people, but not the log in our eyes." Do I make sense at all? (or you have no idea of what I saying)

It basically means we see the little flaws of other people, but overlook the huge shortcomings in ourselves. Please don't be mistaken bb that I am referring to anybody cause I would react too in the same situation.

When h bring ups the Yong Joon's trait of prudence, I have to tell myself that I should always keep that in mind in my daily interaction with other people. I especially like your translation into chinese, cause those 4 words really stick into my mind.

hi hi mrs a, those 4 words literally translate to "selective in words and cautious in actions".

love ..... jaime

mrs a said...

I like that saying...makes alot of sense. Never heard it before. It is true we don't examine our own flaws like we should. Sometimes it is so difficult to imagine we make mistakes and we do daily. :) Gee Jaime, I may now refer you as a philosopher.

Hey you are hiding in bb's pocket with me, right? She promised some scraps!

Anonymous said...

hi hi dear mrs a,

so nice to talk to you again. hehe, me, a philosopher? who doesn't even know what she's trying to say, hahaha! I love to listen to more words of wisdom from you wise ladies. I know I can learn so many virtues from Bae Yong Joon and the Bae sisters.

yeah mrs a, we're all in bb's pocket. but the slight problem this time is, I have gained so much weight since her last trip, you might have to accomodate my big 'behind' a little and not complain too much :)

love ... jaime

Toujours_BYJ said...

Bravo my dear Heippieh.
Jaime, bb and mrs A have already said what I want to say, so just would like to say thanks to you for this great writing.

HeippieH said...

Dear Jaime,

Thank you so much for your nice encouragement. I would love to keep writing about our YJ's virtues. It's a pleasure to think and write about his countless traits of virtues. It's a matter of whether I can present it so well.

Same as you, ever since I learned about YJ's prudence, I started to pay attention and remind myself about it. You like the four Chinese words for prudence? It sticks to your mind? I have the same feeling. Do you know why? It's not my translation, it is BYJ's own words, well I guess it is his own words in Korean and people translated into Chinese, and I think translating from Korean to Chinese is very direct, so I took that 谨言慎行 as YJ's own words. That's why it sticks to your mind, that's why it sticks to my mind. I have been trying to be prudent ever since I encountered YJ's prudence for about 2.5 years.

I like your sayings about splinters and log, as human beings we usually do that, be strict to others and loose on ourselves. Reminds me of YJ again, he is opposite, isn't he, strict on himself and tolerant to others. Another virtue of his!

You've always been successful keeping the humor around. Love that! We all need the laughters everyday. Now how did you get into bb's pocket?

Love,
h.

HeippieH said...

Hi bb, you did not create that unfortunate incident, but since it happened, you did the right thing to protest. As I commented, sometimes confrontation is necessary, and as you put it nicely, gentle confrontation is what we need. We need to be prudent, but that does not mean we do not stand up for what is right - which ties to justice. When you take a stand, you choose the proper measure through prucence. Gentle confrontation is exactly the way to go. I am with you. We all need a understanding heart.

Take care and thanks for dropping by.

h.

HeippieH said...

Hi Dear Mrs.A., you are in bb's pocket as well? going to China? bb's pocket is a nice place, she'll take you all over the places. is there enough space for me? she seems to be a lucky lady that get to see what she expected or even, unexpected, like the straight sight of the prince. you made the best choice. As for Jaime, she always surprise us, huh? just as you think you have a title for her, she'll show you another type of talent. What a joy! Just like YJ, the mysteries never ends.

Have you been good lately? life, work, health, etc? Hope everything is well. Thanks for coming by.

Take care,
h

HeippieH said...

Hi Dear Camille, thanks for your nice words. Thank you so much for writing down comments. Bless your heart!

Love,
h.