"The army's destruction and the general's death will invariably stem form these five, so they must be investigated"(204)
I'm sure most people have thought to themselves: "Do I have any bad traits?" at least once. The five traits that make up Sun Tzu's list are:
"One committed to dying can slain."
"One committed to living can be captured."
"One [easily] angered and hasty [to act] can be insulted."
"One obsessed with being scrupulous and untainted can be shamed."
"One who loves the people can be troubled" (204)
These according to him are what can cause the downfall of a general. The first two and the fourth are there to say that just because they are the best doesn't mean that they can't be defeated some way or another. You just need to work your way around it. Third, is that being rash and getting angry doesn't make you stronger. Sure you feel like it, but doesn't mean that you actually are. Instead, it makes you act blindly out of rage and that will lead to your downfall. The last, is that no matter how strongly they feel about anything, they can be troubled. This can cause them to fall short on their decision making due to their emotional chains.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't have none of these traits at all. Some of them are actually good to have, but only to have them in modest amounts. Do not have them in excess. Too much of it can be disastrous. Remember, what adults says, "Too much of a good thing can be bad".
4th week of reading The Art of War. I've found that its been easier to read now that my mind is off AP testing. I've been able to catch up to where I am suppose to be now. This week's reading was a little bit trickier than last weeks but I was able to figure it out *cough* long time *cough*. I'm still writing sticky notes, and I've found that its actually helping me a bit.