Acient Chinese Wisdom- Rules Ruined with Indulgent Love

King Hui in Kingdom Wei was a gentleman and he was appraised and loved by his people. One day he was meeting with a prophet, he asked: how do my people think of me? The Prophet said: I heard that most of your people think of you as caring, loving, and generous. King Hui was glad to hear that.

 

Then he asked the Prophet: What do you think of my country's future? The Prophet replied: It will perish eventually if not too soon. King Hui was astonished and asked why. The Prophet said: You wouldn't not punish your people who made mistakes, because you are gentle, caring and loving. That way people will not work hard enough to meet the target you assigned to them. To make it worse, you awarded people even when they didn't diserve it. Without definite punishment and awardness, people lose the sense of laws and rules. They will be gridy and nagging, eventually you will be blamed and turned over by them or by somebody foreign.