Story #9 [Diligence]: The Bird Who Tried to Fill the Ocean

One of the most important personality attributes lauded by those on the corporate ladder is resilience or grit. These things mean very different things to different people, but it seems to me it means not getting worn out by hardships along the way.

It is a conundrum sometimes — you should care passionately about what you are doing and give things your one hundred percent, but at the same time you can’t be emotionally impacted by setbacks? So the key must be in the recovery, how fast you can get back on your feet and start moving again.

Today I want to share with you a quaint little story of Jingwei, a tiny bird who tried to fill the Chinese ocean. This also must be the only story with a positive spin on revenge!

A long, long time ago, there lived a little girl who loved playing by the ocean shore. One day there was a wild torrential storm and the ocean tides swept her away from the beach and she sadly lost her life. After her death, her soul turned into a tiny bird (Jingwei). Remembering how she was robbed of life by the ocean, she started to pick up twigs, pebbles and rocks from the shore in an endeavour to fill the ocean. Seeing her feeble efforts, the ocean laughed and said to her “Foolish bird, you will never succeed!”. But the Jingwei scoffed off the ocean’s words and said “Murderer! One day you will pay for what you have done to me and others who have lost their lives from your whim. The wind may break my wings and the sun may make me sweat, but I will not give up until justice is done.”

So that is the story of why the tiny Jingwei bird became the symbol of resilience in Chinese culture. She, who dared to do the impossible.