Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
- Now, we get some advice on how to run a society.
- The TTC claims it's a bad idea to make a big deal about overachievers.
- If we do, then everybody starts fighting because they want to be a big deal too.
- It's also a bad idea declare things that are hard to find as valuable.
- If we do this, everybody starts stealing the hard-to-find stuff.
- A sage ruler will free the people from all these bogus desires, while also keeping the people's bellies full and their souls satisfied.
- The TTC declares that if society is basically free of sneaky schemers, then the few sneaky schemers out there won't dare to sneak and scheme.
- (Let's all take a second to imagine a Washington, D.C. run by sages.)