True and false honor

D. Likhachev vividly discusses true and false honor in the tenth letter of the book “Letters about the Good and the Beautiful.” It was these arguments that I took as the basis for my essay. Likhachev writes that synonymous true honor is conscience, which is located in a person’s subconscious, does not allow him to calm down, “gnaws” from the inside. Likhachev calls false honor “the honor of the uniform.” This means that a person “in office” often acts not according to his convictions, not according to his conscience, but as required by conditions and instructions. In this case, personal gain often prevails over other people's problems.
Reflecting on true honor, I remembered the famous Russian translator Lilianna Lungina. Her memories were recorded by O. Dorman and published in the book “Interlinear: The Life of Lilianna Lungina, Told by Her in Oleg Dorman’s Film.” I remember the episode where the translator talks about Klavdiya Vasilievna Poltavskaya, the director of the school where the girl studied. In the difficult years of repression and total surveillance, Klavdia Vasilievna was guided in her work by her moral principles. The director took the girl, whose parents were arrested, to live with her and gave her the opportunity to finish school. Poltavskaya sheltered a homeless boy, picked him up on the street, and for moral reasons told everyone that he was her distant relative. For Klavdia Vasilievna, it was important that the children trusted her and were not afraid of her. At the same time, she was strict with her students. In my opinion, the school principal is an example of true honor because her actions never went against her conscience.
Here's an example false honor, in my opinion, is the head of MTS Knyazhev from V. Tendryakov’s story “Potholes”. The truck driver was driving fellow travelers along a bad road. Suddenly the car overturned and one of the passengers suffered a serious abdominal injury. Knyazhev was the first to take up the stretcher and carried the bleeding wounded man eight kilometers off-road. Having reached the first aid station, he left the stretcher and proceeded to his job responsibilities. When it became clear that the victim was dying, that hours and minutes were counting, they turned to Knyazhev with a request to provide a tractor to deliver the young man to the area. But the head of MTS categorically refused to give an order, citing instructions. For the bureaucrat Knyazhev, his own importance as a guardian of the law turned out to be higher human life. A few hours later, he finally allocated a tractor, but not because his conscience awoke in him, but because of the fear of party punishment. But time was lost; the young man died on the way to the regional center. This example clearly illustrates the idea of ​​D. Likhachev’s “honor of the uniform.”
In conclusion, I want to say that people who act according to their conscience never expect applause and gratitude, but do good deeds quietly and from the heart. This distinguishes them from people whose honor is false. “Do good throughout the whole earth, do good for the benefit of others. Not for the beautiful thank you to someone who heard you nearby,” urges singer Shura. And I completely agree with him.

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The essay was sent by site user Nikita Vorotnyuk.

Lesson objectives:

• introduce students to the facts of the biography of a literary scholar, public figure D.S. Likhachev and his book “Letters about the good and the beautiful”;
• compare the life views of an outstanding scientist of our time with your own views;
• gain a positive emotional experience from communicating with the legacy of the great publicist;
• determine your attitude to moral values;
• evaluate the ecology of your own soul;
• gain the skill of selecting arguments for Part C of the Unified State Exam in Russian;
• prepare to write Unified State Exam essay in social studies.

PROGRESS OF THE LESSON

I. Opening speech by the teacher of the Russian language.

The human soul... For some it is the size of a pea, while for others it is all-encompassing, ready to accommodate the whole world. Compassion, mercy, conscience, and next to it - cruelty, envy, violence, thirst for power. And man, it turns out, is sometimes sincere, sometimes indifferent, at the same time he is the keeper of nature, but he is also its destroyer. Every year three special calendar holidays are celebrated on our planet:

These days are a reminder of the problems of nature conservation, because we need to protect nature not from some mythical aliens, but from our fellow citizens with a deformed soul. The human soul must be nurtured carefully, carefully and with love. Humanity has no other way if it wants to live like a human being.

Today we’ll talk about what it means to live humanly, and Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev’s book “Letters about the Good and the Beautiful” will help us with this.

He introduces students to the personality of D.S. Likhacheva.

Slides on screen:

• Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev;
• Milestones life path;
• Likhachev’s legacy (cover of the book about “Letters about the Good and the Beautiful”;
• Recognition (awards);
• Personality and power.

The teacher comments on each slide and talks about three aspects of Academician Likhachev’s confrontation with the authorities: a professional conflict, a moral conflict, and a conflict of class origin.

But due to his intelligence and decency, Dmitry Sergeevich did not become embittered and continued his work as a philosopher, educator, and publicist. The book “Letters about the Good and the Beautiful” was written by him in 1985.

Remember what is called journalism? What are its tasks?

The student answers: “This is a type of work dedicated to current problems and phenomena of current life. The main task of the journalistic style is to influence the reader, listener, to convince him of something, to instill certain ideas, views, and to induce certain actions.

– What genres of journalistic style do you know?

On the screen is a slide with genres: essays, articles, reports, interviews, letters.

– Likhachev’s book consists of forty-six letters addressed to the young reader.

-What is a letter?

There is a slide on the screen: A letter is a written text sent to communicate something (from the dictionary of S.I. Ozhegov).

We have four working groups. Each has its own letter. Let's think about what Dmitry Sergeevich wanted to tell the reader?

– As a teacher preparing you for the Unified State Exam in the Russian language, I ask you to identify the problem raised by the author in the letter, give an answer, what is the author’s position. Argue your agreement or disagreement by citing examples from literature or history.

– And I, as a social studies teacher, ask you to formulate a moral rule for each of the letters, which will become your life credo. Write it on the board after the discussion.

So, think out loud about what you read.

Letter ten: TRUE AND FALSE HONOR

1st group: – The tenth letter in Likhachev’s book “Letters about the Good and the Beautiful” is entitled “True and False Honor,” which indicates the problem raised by the author. True honor comes from the depths of the soul; it does not allow a person to calm down, as if it is “gnawing” him from the inside. A synonym for such honor is conscience, which cannot be false, because it is located in the subconscious and is completely beyond the control of a person. It is conscience that leads you to the true path. False honor is the “honor of the uniform,” which forces you to say and do what society expects of you, even when it contradicts your own beliefs. For example, in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” Rodion Raskolnikov crosses those moral boundaries that a person, if he wants to remain human, cannot cross under any circumstances. Rodion did not foresee remorse, he forgot that the one who

shed blood, doomed himself to terrible torment. Having committed a crime, he says: “I didn’t kill the old woman, but myself!” In the novel. In the novel L.N. Tolstoy's "War and Peace" ordinary people help the wounded, fight for freedom native land. The same Tikhon Shcherbaty goes to war not for any political reasons (because “that’s the right way”), but because he feels an inner need, a necessity. This is, in my opinion, a manifestation of true honor. False honor remains a heavy burden and devastates the soul, while true honor does not allow a person to calm down and requires him to perform actions worthy of respect. I think people need to remember that conscience is a measure of purity of thoughts and actions.

Group members complement what has been said with their own arguments and conclusions.

– It is common for youth to strive to understand these eternal truths in order to find their place in society and determine their moral position. Turning to classical literature, you analyze the behavior of the heroes from the point of view of their life credo, evaluate their actions, attitude towards people and events through the prism of honor and dishonor. In my opinion, the behavior of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky is a worthy example of true honor. This is a knight without fear or reproach, who decided to serve the Motherland without reserve, to be with common people to the end (mortal wound scene). It's sad that the lot of a man of honor is to suffer. He is an advanced warrior, he is a winner, and he is also a victim!

- Duel between Lensky and Onegin. What is this: defense of true honor or “uniform honor”?

The conversation on the contents of letter No. 10 ends with a writing on the board of a moral rule formulated by the group based on what was said:

Slide on screen with the text of the letter.

Letter Twenty-Five: BY THE DIRECTIONS OF CONSCIENCE

2nd group: – The spiritual need to act according to the dictates of conscience, to do good is the most valuable thing in a person, that is, what makes him live like a human being - this, in my opinion, is the position of the author in the letter “At the command of conscience” . Everyone can cultivate an intuitive manifestation of conscience. You just have to want it. Life will indeed become easier and more interesting, and the right decisions will begin to come to your mind, preventing you from calming down and souring. A person does not think about what and how he does in order to breathe, walk, see. Likewise, the paths of goodness should be found without effort and pain.

– A striking example The actions of people at the behest of conscience can serve as the exploits of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Nikolai Gastello - pilot, in battle he directed his plane at an enemy column, at the cost own life did not allow the enemy to win. Alexander Matrosov died, covering the embrasure of an enemy bunker with his chest, opening the way for his colleagues to the desired height. These people acted intuitively, at the behest of their conscience.

– Honor and conscience did not allow the heroes of the story “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet...” not to complete the task. Retreat. They knew that they would die, but they believed that they would gain time. And so it happened. All five girls died, and Sergeant Major Vaskov suffered because he could not save them. We are grateful to the people who defended the honor of the country, acted according to the dictates of their conscience on the battlefields and survived.

“I would like to believe that people with a clear conscience and honor will not disappear and that they will finally be appreciated.” They will be looked up to, they will be glorified. But honor and conscience are necessary for a person not for glory and honors. In everyday life, it is also important to behave with dignity, that is, to live like a human being. The lines from Pushkin’s “The Captain’s Daughter” come to mind, the father’s order to Pyotr Grinev: “Take care of your honor from a young age!” Apparently, this is the most important wish for a person.

- And I think that living according to the dictates of conscience must begin with early childhood, so I will cite Arkady Gaidar’s story “Timur and His Team” as an argument. After all, it is in childhood that the foundations of moral purity are laid.

The conversation on the contents of letter No. 25 ends with a writing on the board of a moral rule formulated by the group based on what was said:

Do good without seeing any merit in it.

On the screen is a slide with the text of the letter.

Letter thirtieth: MORAL HIGH POINTS AND ATTITUDE TO THEM

On the screen is a slide with the text of the letter.

3rd group:

“...The most important thing among a people is its ideals,” this is how D.S. Likhachev ends his thirtieth letter. The basis of this text is the author’s discussion about the moral peaks of the people and their attitude towards them. The scientist argues that in resolving this issue one should rely on the best, the great, the highly moral. In this letter, the author calls for a benevolent attitude towards any people, even the smallest ones. A people should be judged by the best that is in it. Old fairy tales were created by ordinary people, but they already contain the idea that good always triumphs over evil. And what helped the Russian people to withstand severe historical trials: in Patriotic War 1812 and in the Great Patriotic War? In the novel “War and Peace,” Leo Tolstoy talks about the role of the individual in history and comes to the conclusion that the success of a business is determined not by the will of one person, but by the spirit, the moral rise of the people, based on patriotism. Defenders of the Fatherland, military and civilian people, performing great and small feats, rose to moral heights: Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, Nikolai Rostov, Platon Karataev, Natasha Rostova... This text made me think that I too am a part of a large and great people . To prevent my plane from crashing, I must strive for moral heights, I must be worthy of my people.

– Every person must make a choice between morality and immorality, between external well-being with internal squalor and the wealth of nature with a modest existence. It can be assumed that there will come a period in the life of every person when he has to solve the problem of choice: how to live further. I think the life of Matryona from Solzhenitsyn’s story “Matryonin’s Dvor” - good for that confirmation. Everything for people and nothing for yourself.

– An ideal is an idea of ​​perfection, the highest goal and model that determine a person’s way of thinking and acting. A moral ideal is an idea of ​​moral perfection, the highest moral example of behavior. In the books of V.M. Shukshin, the theme of the meaning of life clearly sounds. The hero of the story “Freak” strives to comprehend the movements of his own soul. He sees a fifty-ruble note at the store counter: should he pick it up or pass by, secretly appropriate it or announce his find? His eccentricity is that he chooses the second path, that is, he acts as a minority would act. But as a result, it turned out that he did not bend down to pick up his own money. “I approached the store, I wanted to look at the piece of paper at least from a distance, I stood at the entrance... And I didn’t enter. It will really hurt. The heart may not be able to bear it.” The act shows that the hero lives like a human being, is pure in soul and thoughts.

– The Russian language teacher reads an excerpt from Solzhenitsyn’s story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, depicting an episode of brickwork: in the inhuman conditions of the Stalinist camp, a morally pure person retains the ability to receive joy and pleasure from the works of his hands.

The conversation on the contents of letter No. 30 ends with a writing on the board of a moral rule formulated by the group based on what was said:

Remember! You are a grain of your people. Your actions are the fate of your country.

On the screen is a slide with the text of the letter.

Letter forty-five: SPACE HERMITAGE

– 4th group: – In the fortieth letter, the author asks us what can be opposed to such human vices as revenge, anger, quarrels and strife? And he answers it himself: the solution to everything is culture. Likhachev was completely convinced of this, and his deeds can serve as proof. For example, he helped save the nature of the Volzhsky Nature Reserve, prevented the opening of a sand quarry, prevented the destruction of the library in Myshkin, founded the Cultural Foundation, the magazine “Our Heritage”, and for 20 years headed the publication of a series of books “ Literary monuments" Thanks to his efforts, dozens of monuments were preserved and restored national culture. In the letter, the author shares with the reader his emotions about lasting value our earthly civilization. Speaks of the unifying power of culture.

– In the story by L.N. Tolstoy’s “Lucerne” depicts a scene when all its noble and preoccupied with global problems inhabitants came out onto the balcony of a hotel for very rich people to listen to the play of a poor wandering musician. While listening to beautiful music, people experienced the same emotions, thought about the same things, and even seemed to breathe in unison.

– I agree with the author: there is much more in common between earthlings than there are differences. From historical linguistics it is known that once there was a common language for all - the Proto-Indo-European base language. Thus, it has been proven that the languages ​​existing on earth are relatives. We all speak the same language, so we cannot help but understand each other.

The conversation on the contents of letter No. 45 ends with a writing on the board of a moral rule formulated by the group based on what was said:

As long as culture exists, people exist!

V. The final part of the lesson is reflection.

– So our conversation about “good” has come to an end. As a teacher of Russian language and literature, I am satisfied and I think that problems with finding arguments about morality and purity of soul will not arise during the exam.

– The history teacher shows a slide with a moral code created by Likhachev and offers to compare its points with those that were born to the groups during the lesson. The class is convinced that its conclusions on the issue under discussion coincide with the conclusions of D.S. Likhacheva..

The God of every person is his conscience.
Do good without seeing any merit in it.
Remember! You are a grain of your people. Your actions are the fate of your country.
As long as culture exists, people exist!

The Russian language teacher ends the lesson with words from the 46th letter of the book “Letters about Good.” At this time, the class sees on the screen without sound an excerpt from a film about Likhachev:

– There could be more letters, but it’s time to take stock. We walked today, climbing the steps of experience - moral and aesthetic experience. Life requires complications. So, what is the most important thing in life? The main thing is different for everyone, unique, but it exists. And no matter how individual it is, it must be kind and significant. In life, the most valuable thing is kindness, and smart, purposeful kindness. Happiness is achieved only by those who strive to make others happy and are able to temporarily forget about their interests and themselves. This is the “unchangeable ruble”. Today we learned to follow the paths of kindness. In my opinion, this is very, very important. Trust me!

The history teacher ends the lesson by singing the song “Hurry to Live!” with a guitar.

Honor. What is it? What meaning do we give to this word? It is not easy to answer these questions. I think that honor is self-esteem, the ability to live life according to conscience, without tarnishing oneself dishonorable actions, conquer such feelings as envy, hatred, greed, so that at the end of your life, summing up, you can say that you lived your life honestly. To understand what true and false honor is, let us turn to examples from fiction.

Let's remember Pushkin's novel "The Captain's Daughter". The main character of the work, Pyotr Grinev, lives by the laws of honor and knows how to stand up for the honor of other people. So he challenges Shvabrin to a duel, who spoke insultingly about Masha Mironova, captain's daughter. Grinev not only loves Masha, but also respects the person in her, sees that she is a modest, worthy girl, and is ready to protect her from people who encroach on her honor. Even when Grinev was arrested as an accomplice of Pugachev, he does not tell anyone about the reasons why he went from Orenburg, without the permission of his commanders, to the Belogorsk fortress occupied by the Pugachevites, because he does not want the name of the captain’s daughter to be heard at the trial.

Even in the face of death, Grinev did not disgrace his human and military honor. When the fortress was captured by Pugachev, the young officer did not swear allegiance to the impostor and, if not for Savelich, would have been hanged.

“Take care of honor from a young age” - this is the epigraph to Pushkin’s novel. AND main character fulfills this commandment throughout all the events described in the work. And the reader is sure that Grinev will live the rest of his life with dignity. This is what true honor is.

In order to understand what false honor is, let us turn again to Pushkin, to his novel “Eugene Onegin”. Let us mentally turn over the pages telling about the duel of Onegin and Lensky. Lensky is offended by the behavior of Onegin, who at Tatiana’s name day pays attention to the young poet’s fiancée Olga, dances with her, and whispers something to her. A frivolous girl forgets about her fiancé. Onegin and Lensky are friends. Onegin is older, smarter, more experienced. He understands the insignificance of their quarrel, but does not refuse the duel. It seems to me that this is false honor. Onegin is afraid for his reputation, especially since the old duelist Zaretsky, who himself can hardly be called a man of honor, intervened in the matter. Now rumors about abandoning the duel or reconciliation with Lensky will spread throughout the area. Onegin will be considered a coward, and society will talk about him as a person who did not defend his honor. And poor Lensky was killed by a friend in a duel. False honor played its role. Onegin could not resist her, although in his own way he loved Lensky and understood the insignificance of their quarrel.

Makes you think about a lot fiction. Including how to live life without confusing the concepts of true and false honor.

“Honour, decency, conscience are qualities that we need to value, just as we value our health, because without these qualities a person is not a person.”

Likhachev D. S.

For more than two and a half millennia, humanity has been waiting with hope for an “ideal society” in which the basis would be moral values, such as: freedom, honor and dignity, conscience, duty and responsibility, goodness and justice. Thinkers of all times have worked to bring this idea to life, but, unfortunately, the topic of moral improvement of man remains unfinished today. The problem of honor and dignity of the individual in the modern world is still relevant.

I think there are hardly any opponents on this issue. Are Likhachev's views modern? Finding the answer to this question is the goal of my work.

Honor, decency and conscience are the moral core without which a person cannot live. In general, honor, decency and conscience, I will add nobility, are considered as a single whole, without which, as Likhachev himself said, a person is not a person. This is how it is sung in one of Bulat Okudzhava’s songs:

Conscience, nobility and dignity -

This is our holy army.

Honor, decency, dignity and conscience are given to a person from birth by his ancestors and instilled by his parents. Honor is like a chicken egg: once broken, you can’t stick it together again. This is purely personal moral quality, which should be in everyone’s soul. A decent person always keeps his promises and does not intentionally harm others. And conscience is a “clawed beast that scrapes the heart”; it is a natural spiritual gift of human nature. Every person in this world, in my opinion, should have their own certain moral standards.

A man of honor, decency and conscience, in the highest sense of these words, was Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, who made a great contribution to the development of these concepts.

Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev was born and lived most of his life and ended his days in St. Petersburg. He was born on November 28, 1906. Studied D.S. Likhachev first in the gymnasium of the Humane Society, then in the Gymnasium and real school of K.I. May, completed secondary education in Sovetskaya labor school them. L. Lentovskaya. From 1923 to 1928 he studied at Leningrad state university at the Faculty of Social Sciences, at the Ethnological and Linguistic Department. Here he developed a special love for native history and culture and began to research ancient Russian literature.

Immediately after graduating from the university, Dmitry Likhachev was arrested on a false denunciation and accused of counter-revolutionary activities and in 1928-1932. spent in prison: first six months in prison, then two years in the Solovetsky special purpose camp, and, finally, at the convict construction site of the White Sea-Baltic Canal. This period, academician D.S. Likhachev subsequently called “the most important time in his life,” because after going through the terrible trials of prisons and camps, he learned sacrificial love for people and always following the path of Good.

In 1941 he became a senior researcher at the Institute of Russian Literature. In the same year he defended his candidate's dissertation on the topic "Novgorod chronicle codes of the 12th century." While under siege in Leningrad, he writes and publishes the book “Defense of Old Russian Cities” (1942). In June 1942, the scientist and his family were evacuated to Kazan.

In the victorious year of 1945, D.S. Likhachev writes and publishes the book “National Identity Ancient Rus'". The following year he receives the medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."

In the middle of the century, two remarkable books were published in the “Literary Monuments” series, accompanied by his scientific articles and commentaries: “The Tale of Bygone Years” and “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”

In 1970 he was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Meanwhile, D.S. Likhachev, he became a foreign member and corresponding member of a number of countries, as well as an honorary doctor of the universities of Sofia, Budapest, Oxford, Bordeaux, Edinburgh and Zurich.

Works of Academician D.S. Likhachev's works on Russian chronicles and on problems of history and theory of Russian literature and culture have become internationally recognized classics of philological science.

The scientist had many awards, both domestic and foreign. Among them are the highest awards of the USSR - Stalin Prize, title of Hero Socialist Labor and gold medal "Hammer and Sickle", Big Gold Medal them. M.V. Lomonosov, Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" II degree, Order of Apostle Andrew the First-Called "For Faith and Fidelity to the Fatherland" for contribution to development national culture. He became the first holder of the Order of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called after the restoration of this highest award in Russia.

The death of Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev followed on September 30, 1999. November 28, 2006 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great scientist. 2006 President Russian Federation V.V. Putin declared the Year of Likhachev.

In one of his speeches, he noted: “Our conscience has begun to disappear. I am talking about this, I am obliged to talk, because many times in my life, not on personal matters, but on those that are of great importance for the preservation of our culture, I have had to deal with people who had no sense of conscience."

There is a well-known paradox: most of all, conscience torments a conscientious person, not an unscrupulous one. This probably happens because the unscrupulous person has already drowned out his conscience, forced him to remain silent, and has long stopped listening to it. “Conscience prompts. Honor acts. Conscience always comes from the depths of the soul, and by conscience, to one degree or another, a person is cleansed. Conscience “gnaws”. Conscience is never false. It can be muted or too exaggerated (extremely rarely).” The fact that the conscience does not “gnaw” is one of the problems of our country, and the whole world. It partly contributes to this feeling of permissiveness, impunity, because the worst punishment is a troubled conscience. Conscience is an integral feature of a decent person. Honor is the dignity of a morally living person. Decency is everything that unites conscience and honor together.

Lack of conscience among people causes material, but more spiritual, damage to society. Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev is an example of outstanding courage and perseverance, because he managed, I repeat, throughout his difficult life to maintain decency, conscience and honor, no matter what.

I would like to believe that such concepts as conscience, decency and honor will not be forgotten. That peace of conscience in harmony with unblemished honor will become the highest value of decency of our time.

D.S. Likhachev

Letters to young readers

LETTER TEN
HONOR IS TRUE AND FALSE

I don't like definitions and am often not ready for them. But I can point out some differences between conscience and honor.

There is one significant difference between conscience and honor. Conscience always comes from the depths of the soul, and by conscience one is purified to one degree or another. Conscience is gnawing. Conscience is never false. It can be muted or too exaggerated (extremely rare). But ideas about honor can be completely false, and these false ideas cause enormous damage to society. I mean what is called “uniform honor.” We have lost such a phenomenon, unusual for our society, as the concept of noble honor, but the “honor of the uniform” remains a heavy burden. It was as if the man had died, and only the uniform remained, from which the orders had been removed. And inside which a conscientious heart no longer beats.

“The honor of the uniform” forces managers to defend false or flawed projects, insist on the continuation of obviously unsuccessful construction projects, fight with societies protecting monuments (“our construction is more important”), etc. Many examples of such defense of “uniform honor” can be given.

True honor is always in accordance with conscience. False honor is a mirage in the desert, in the moral desert of the human (or rather, “bureaucratic”) soul.

LETTER ELEVEN
ABOUT CAREERISM

A person develops from the first day of his birth. He is focused on the future. He learns, learns to set new tasks for himself, without even realizing it. And how quickly he masters his position in life. He already knows how to hold a spoon and pronounce the first words.

Then, as a boy and a young man, he also studies.

And the time has come to apply your knowledge and achieve what you strived for. Maturity. We need to live in the present...
But the acceleration continues, and now, instead of studying, the time comes for many to master their situation in life. The movement proceeds by inertia. A person is always striving towards the future, and the future is no longer in real knowledge, not in mastering skills, but in placing oneself in an advantageous position. The content, the real content, is lost. The present time does not come, there is still an empty aspiration to the future. This is careerism. Internal anxiety that makes a person personally unhappy and unbearable for others.

LETTER TWELVE
A PERSON MUST BE INTELLIGENT

A person must be intelligent! What if his profession does not require intelligence? And if he could not get an education: that’s how the circumstances developed. What if environment doesn't allow it? What if his intelligence makes him a “black sheep” among his colleagues, friends, relatives, and simply prevents him from getting closer to other people?

No, no and no! Intelligence is needed under all circumstances. It is necessary both for others and for the person himself.

This is very, very important, and above all in order to live happily and long - yes, long! For intelligence is equal to moral health, and health is needed to live long - not only physically, but also mentally. The Bible says: “Honor your father and your mother, and you will live long on earth.” This applies to both an entire nation and an individual. That's wise.

But first of all, let’s define what intelligence is, and then why it is connected with the commandment of longevity.

Many people think: an intelligent person is one who has read a lot, received a good education (and even mainly a humanitarian one), traveled a lot, and knows several languages.
Meanwhile, you can have all this and be unintelligent, and you can not possess any of this to a large extent, but still be an internally intelligent person.

Education cannot be confused with intelligence. Education lives by old content, intelligence - by creating new things and recognizing the old as new.

Moreover...Deprive authentically intelligent person of all his knowledge, education, deprive him of his very memory. Let him forget everything in the world, he won’t know classics of literature won't remember greatest works art, will forget the most important historical events, but if at the same time he retains sensitivity to intellectual values, love of acquiring knowledge, interest in history, aesthetic sense, he will be able to distinguish a real work of art from a “thing” made only to surprise, if he can admire the beauty of nature, understand the character and individuality of another person, enter into his position, and having understood the other person, help him, will not show rudeness, indifference, gloating, envy, but will appreciate the other if he shows respect for the culture of the past, skills well-mannered person, responsibility in resolving moral issues, the richness and accuracy of one’s language - spoken and written - this will be an intelligent person.

Intelligence is not only about knowledge, but about the ability to understand others. It manifests itself in a thousand and a thousand little things: in the ability to argue respectfully, to behave modestly at the table, in the ability to imperceptibly (precisely imperceptibly) help another, to take care of nature, not to litter around oneself - do not litter with cigarette butts or swearing, bad ideas (this is also garbage , and what else!).

I knew peasants in the Russian North who were truly intelligent. They kept their homes amazingly clean and knew how to value good songs, knew how to tell “happenings” (that is, what happened to them or others), lived an orderly life, were hospitable and friendly, treated both the grief and joy of others with understanding.

Intelligence is the ability to understand, to perceive, it is a tolerant attitude towards the world and towards people.
You need to develop intelligence in yourself, train it – train your mental strength, just as you train your physical strength. And training is possible and necessary in any conditions.

That training physical strength contributes to longevity is understandable. Much less understands that longevity requires training of spiritual and mental strength.

The fact is that an angry and angry reaction to the environment, rudeness and lack of understanding of others is a sign of mental and spiritual weakness, human inability to live... Pushing around in a crowded bus is a weak and nervous person, exhausted, reacting incorrectly to everything. Quarreling with neighbors is also a person who does not know how to live, who is mentally deaf. An aesthetically unresponsive person is also an unhappy person. Someone who cannot understand another person, attributes only evil intentions to him, and is always offended by others - this is also a person who impoverishes his own life and interferes with the lives of others. Mental weakness leads to physical weakness. I'm not a doctor, but I'm convinced of it. Long-term experience has convinced me of this.

Friendliness and kindness make a person not only physically healthy, but also beautiful. Yes, exactly beautiful.

A person’s face, distorted by anger, becomes ugly, and his movements evil man lack grace - not deliberate grace, but natural grace, which is much more expensive.

A person's social duty is to be intelligent. This is a duty to yourself. This is the key to his personal happiness and the “aura of goodwill” around him and towards him (that is, addressed to him).

Everything I talk about with young readers in this book is a call to intelligence, to physical and moral health, to the beauty of health. Let us live long as people and as a nation! And veneration of father and mother should be understood broadly - as veneration of all our best in the past, in the past, which is the father and mother of our modernity, great modernity, to which it is great happiness to belong.

Quoted from:
D.S. Likhachev. Letters about good. SPb.: “Russian-Baltic information center BLITZ", 1999.