Tolerance and compassion broaden one's heart and spirit, while hatred traps a person forever in the shadow of anger and violence. If someone cannot completely overcome the flaw of constantly resenting others, it is like climbing a mountain while shackled with chains and leg irons—not only will they fail to succeed, but they also risk falling into an abyss.
Jesus' teaching to "love your enemies" may be a state of mind difficult for us to achieve. However, Shakespeare's words—"the fire of hatred will burn yourself"—are something we can fully understand.
Mr. Rona from Sweden had been working as a lawyer in Vienna for many years. Driven by homesickness, he decided to return to his homeland. He believed that, with his extensive experience as a lawyer abroad, finding a job back home would be easy. He submitted his resume to several domestic legal consulting firms and law offices, hoping to secure a position as a lawyer or legal advisor.
Most organizations sent back routine replies stating that their teams were already fully staffed and did not need professionals like him. Just as he was feeling deeply disappointed, he received another reply—a long letter that filled an entire sheet of official letterhead. He was thrilled, convinced this must be an offer of employment. Full of joy, he began reading: "Mr. Rona, your understanding of the current legal profession in our country is entirely wrong. Especially our company, we despise people like you who, after spending a few years abroad, assume they can easily handle domestic affairs. You are truly foolish to send us your resume without even understanding us. Let me be clear: we would never hire someone as arrogant as you. Even if we were hiring returnees from abroad, we would not employ you, because you can't even write basic Swedish properly—your letter is full of grammatical errors, truly laughable!"
After reading the letter, Rona was furious. How could this Swede who replied claim his Swedish was poor? From his resume, they should have seen that he was a graduate of a Swedish academy—how could his Swedish possibly be bad? Rona firmly believed the writer was an ignorant fool who truly didn't understand Swedish. It was the reply itself that was full of elementary grammatical mistakes.
Rona immediately picked up his pen to write back, determined to humiliate this arrogant person twice as hard. Not hiring him was one thing, but he could not tolerate such a personal insult. He quickly finished his scathing reply, confident that his sharp words would make the recipient furious. But as he was about to drop the letter into the mailbox, he hesitated. He began to wonder: how could he be so sure the other person was wrong? They were strangers; the other party had simply judged him based on his resume. They must have their own standards. Perhaps the letter wasn't even written by one individual alone, but represented the opinion of the entire organization. At this thought, he broke into a cold sweat over his own impulsiveness and anger. Fortunately, he hadn't sent the letter yet—otherwise, what would the company think of him?
Back home, he calmed down and once again spread out a sheet of paper. This time, he wrote: "Dear Sir, although your company does not need someone like me, you still took the time to reply thoughtfully and kindly pointed out the weaknesses in my Swedish. I am truly grateful, as this will greatly help me improve my language skills. I apologize and feel deeply ashamed for not understanding your company well enough. In the future, I will learn from this experience, work hard to improve my Swedish, and deepen my understanding and interest in your company. Finally, I offer my deepest thanks for your assistance and sincerely wish your company continued success and prosperity."
After dropping the letter into the mailbox, Rona felt as joyful as if he had accomplished something profoundly important. He had never felt so light-hearted. Faced with an insult, he had instead gained insight and growth.
A few days later, a car pulled up at his doorstep. The company's chairman had come in person to take him to work—he had been officially hired. It turned out that the harsh reply was actually the company's test for recruitment. Their reasoning was simple: if a person can face unwarranted insults with tolerance and generosity, transforming hatred into friendship, then such a person will remain calm and composed in the face of any challenge.