The Harmony of Striving and Compromise
Think of how a river embodies these two natures.
It compromises with the geographical terrain, eroding and smoothing the way as it goes while relentlessly flowing forward, striving to achieve its ultimate purpose of uniting with the ocean. These two natures are always simultaneously in balance.
The river prioritizes its effort: Gushing on to the Ocean is its first goal, removing or getting around the rock is its second. While achieving its second objective it never loses sight of its first objective.
This principle runs throughout every aspect of our lives.
In our marital lives, the first objective is to strive for sustaining and creating a loving and harmonious environment for our family. The secondary objective is not to lose our individuality. In order to strive for our first objective, we often compromise our individual differences.
The same situation can occur in a business negotiation. The primary objective might be to create a cooperative partnership to enhance our company’s global market, while the secondary objective is to fight for the best deal possible. In order to achieve the big picture a negotiator needs to balance between making the deal and the necessity to compromise. For without compromise there is no deal.
-Chin-Ning Chu, Discover the Hidden Power of Giving In
