Take the high road? 堂堂正正

Reader question:

Please explain this sentence: You will be rewarded for taking the high road.

My comments:

There’s a saying among religious people. It reads: The high road leads to heaven; The low road leads to hell.

High means morally high, as in moral high ground.

Take the high road means do the right thing.

Right as in morally right, ethically right.

Do the right thing and you’ll be rewarded – in one form or other, sooner or later.

That’s the idea.

For example, you’re taking the high road when you choose to forgive someone for hurting you rather than seek revenge and retaliate by meting out punishment.

I always encourage people to be patient and not retaliate when others do us a petty bad turn. My idea is, if we’re always ready to retaliate, how can we be sure the punishment we mete out exactly match the hurt they have inflicted on us?

I mean, we can easily overdo it, giving out punishment that’s worse than the small wrong they have done us.

An eye for an eye, I hear you say.

I understand that. I’m not against revenge. I believe in justice. I don’t believe anyone can live a life without holding anything against anyone, without holding a grudge of any kind. I’m just saying if you seek an eye for an eye, you should be sure it is an exact eye for an exact eye, if you know what I mean.

Otherwise, this an-eye-for-an-eye thing could easily get out of hand. Mutual hatred or animosity could thus grow like a snowball and spiral out of control.

Oh, well, it’s really up to you whether you want to take the high road when someone hurts you in some way, depending on the situation.

Here, just read a few media examples of people taking the high road instead of being petty and vengeful:

1. Leaders must always take the high road when others, intentionally or unintentionally, wrong them. It’s what First Lady Michelle Obama meant when she said, “When they go low, we go high.”

Your team leaders may have heard a related saying that illustrates the reverse of this principle: If you’re slinging mud, you’re losing ground.

When offended by another person in the workplace, leaders always have a choice in how to respond.

Most leaders know deep down it’s better to take the high road – but what other options do we have when dealing with others?

Your leaders can choose from three options when responding to mud-slinging:

Low road – treat others worse.

Middle road – treat others the same.

High road – treat others better.

The low road damages relationships and alienates others. They may feel that some sort of cosmic justice is being served, but only at the cost of community, relationship, trust, and influence.

The middle road may not drive people away, but it won’t attract them either. It is reactive rather than proactive and allows others to set the agenda.

The high road helps to create positive relationships and attracts others to them; it sets a positive agenda with others that even negative people find difficult to undermine.

As newscaster David Brinkley wisely said, “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”

- Why Leaders Should Always ‘Take The High Road’, JohnMaxwell.com, November 23, 2016.

2. House Speaker Mike Johnson only had kind words to say about Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene when asked about the Georgia lawmaker’s push to have him ousted from his leadership position.

Greene, a Republican, last month introduced a motion to vacate Johnson after the speaker worked across the aisle to put forth a $1.2 trillion spending bill that spared the federal government from a partial shutdown. Johnson has faced heavy criticism from some of the more conservative members of the House as the GOP remains divided on spending issues, such as authorizing additional military assistance to Ukraine.

Greene has also repeatedly attacked Johnson publicly, claiming that he is as Democratic as Congresswoman and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and bringing Johnson’s Christian faith into question on several occasions.

But speaking with reporters on Thursday, Johnson took the high road when responding to Greene’s comments, saying, “I respect Marjorie. She will always have an open door to the speaker’s office.”

“We do have honest differences on strategy sometimes but share the same conservative beliefs,” Johnson continued, according to a report from CNN congressional correspondent Manu Raju. “In spite of our Republican majority of just a single seat in just one chamber of Congress, we are still fighting this administration every day to make policy changes. A shutdown would not serve our party or assist us in our mission of saving the republic by growing our majority, nor will another motion to vacate.”

- Mike Johnson Takes the High Road in Responding to Marjorie Taylor Greene, NewsWeek.com, April 4, 2024.

3. Caitlin Clark may have been snubbed from the U.S. Olympic national women’s basketball team roster, but she took the high road when asked about it on Sunday.

Clark said it was just added motivation to make the team in 2028 when the Summer Games head to Los Angeles.

“I’m excited for the girls who are on the team. I know it’s the most competitive team in the world and I know it could’ve gone either way – me being on the team, me not being on the team,” she said, via The Athletic. “So, I’m excited for them. I’m going to be rooting them on to win gold. I was a kid that grew up watching the Olympics. So, yeah, it’ll be fun to watch them.

“No disappointment. I think it just gives you something to work for. That’s a dream. Hopefully, one day I can be there. I think it’s just a little more motivation. You remember that. And hopefully in four years, when four years comes back around, I can be there.”

- Caitlin Clark’s professionalism impresses sports world after Olympics snub: ‘Take a lesson’, FoxNews.com, June 10, 2024.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣   编辑：丹妮）