Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 4: 25 & 26 "25 - A victorious army is like a pound weight in the scale against a grain; 26 - a defeated army is like a grain in the scale against a pound weight."

Today's focus is #SunTzu 4: 25.

How did it happen? I grew up afraid of winning. I never wanted to crush a grain with my pound. It was as if winning was bad. Worse, wrong. Even evil. It was somehow honorable to lose, dishonorable to win. Topsy-turvy is almost too weak a term.

I have a theory to offer. I knew what it was to lose, as I did so in almost everything. Checkers, no good. Ping pong, no good, at least at first. I still don't play a good chess game. Girls, they didn't like me. Popularity, that was for others. Me, I was a loser, and it hurt.

So, my theory is that, knowing how much pain I suffered when I lost, why would I want to cause that sort of suffering to someone else, by winning? For me to win, meant I had to defeat them. I didn't want to defeat anyone. I just wanted to feel less pain, more joy.

I did, I must brag, learn how to win. I learned how to become popular. I dated the prettiest girls. I married the most amazing woman in the world. But even still, victory itself was not an easy idea for me. The first time I read this verse, it truly mystified me.

As the decades passed, and I returned to this verse again and again, I think I finally cracked its code. You must accept conflict as a given. You must accept more. Your enemy will kill you. Your enemy will hurt you. He will take what is yours. He will crush you, if he can.

Most of us do not enjoy a soldier's clarity. Bullets are real. In your chest, they kill you. Actually. None of my battles held that sort of deadly earnest. A girl who scorns you does not kill you. A sale you fail to close does not kill you. Losing, in everyday life, doesn't kill.

At war, losing kills. At war, truth and falsehood are no mere ideas. You either kill your enemy, true, or your enemy kills you. False? Yes. You thought your skills were good enough. They weren't. False. You die. War clarifies. Or even worse, your men die. You failed as a leader.

You're a leader. Shall we do battle today, or not? The choice is yours. You must be right. If you choose to do battle, you must win. Lose? Men die. You failed. When choosing to fight, you must see that you are the pound, not the grain. And you must be right.

In my youth, I had a teacher. He was a wonderful friend and an even better enemy. He was the most important client I ever sold my services to. One time, when we were negotiating, I asked him, why don't you ever let me win? He answered, that wouldn't be negotiating.

I'll tell you, my friend was a better enemy than a friend. Friends can negotiate, and both can win. He didn't know that. But as an enemy he was flawless. He was a better enemy than friend. He was fierce. He would never give up an unnecessary dollar. How much do I respect him?

As my friend, he paid immediately, by wire transfer. And, the very moment he said he'd pay, the payment was 100% certain. What a mighty man my friend was. What a tremendous leader and hero he was. He died recently, in the past few years. I will always miss him.

He was a pound weight. I was a grain. He won. I lost. Yet, somehow, we made it through, and I served as his coach. Imagine that. I taught him a new way of selling. I taught him a new way of analyzing numbers. Imagine that. But most of all, I was his friend. Imagine that.

Be clear, oh you local MAGA leaders. If you let them, your enemies will crush you as a grain. They will be the pound weight. It doesn't mean they're bad people. They're just wrong. But if you let them crush you, you have failed, and failed where you needed to win.

Leadership. My friend, and his name was Larry Engelgau, taught me what leadership was. Leadership is leading your followers to the actions they must take, and the attitude and confidence they must exhibit to win. Leadership means knowing how to win. And showing how, to others.

But how do you learn how to win? The first thing is to picture a pound weight measuring up against a single grain. Master Sun is so gentle. So steady. He keeps offering us the mental images we need in order to move forward as leaders, in order to win. Picture it.

To return to previous sections in our #WarForAmerica2020 and #SunTzuForMAGA series, don't forget to head over to @WarForAmerica21.

85 verses completed, 337 to go. And also, be sure to purchase John Minford's translation, here:

amazon.com/Art-War-Pengui…

The local MAGA leader’s library needs three other books. The first is by my great friend, hero, and today’s greatest constitutional scholar, @shestokas. His most important work so far is:

amazon.com/Creating-Decla…

The second is available free. It is the combined Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

uscis.gov/sites/default/…

Last is my own book. I'll give you the link here, and then conclude with its ten MAGA principles:

amazon.com/America-First-…

1. Remember The Forgotten Americans
2. Rule Of Law
3. American Jobs
4. Quality Of Life For Every American
5. Heal Our Cities
6. Build The Wall
7. Make America Wealthy Again
8. Make America Strong Again
9. Make America Safe Again
10. Make America Great Again