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From: Magic In Your Words
Date: 14 Dec 2003
Time: 20:19:02 -0600
Remote Name: 216.192.8.7
DB ~ Since "those that forget their history are doomed to repeat it", the beginning of a world war should be remembered. So should the people who loved their country, their families, their freedom and their fighting comrades so much they sacrificed their lives, their youth and their dreams. Our debt to them can only be paid cy remembering what happened and preventing the same mistakes to be made again, letting their sacrifice be the last one needed for mankind to come to its senses. Every side in a war loses, sacrificing sons and fathers and husbands (and now daughters, mothers and wives) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . If we trace the root of war in Japan, we see that Japan is an island that has too little farmable land, too few forests and too few deposits of natural resources to support their population. For centuries, they have lived a short distance away from a continent that has abundant food, timber and other resources. For centuries they lived in a country of depleting natural resources, where taxes and tribute were paid in rice rather than money, because rice was the most valuable commodity. I think it was Napoleon who once said that "an army marches on its stomach". I think that in there lies a secret of why armies form in the first place. Who can not understand that when a man is starving to death, he will do just about anything to survive. When he sees his children going hungry, he will take up any occupation to ensure their survival - even that of killing other men. His choice is a harsh one. Either he buries his children, his parents and everyone he knows, or he helps to bury strangers. When there is no land for plowshares, man takes up his sword. Would we do anything different if we were in their situation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I do see in all the Hondas and DVD players Japans ability to recycle what we as an abundant nation throw out as trash. Of that ability which has been developed because they have no land for dumps and no huge deposits of iron left to mine and make goods out of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I also see enormous wisdom in your words - "we gave them more than plenty!" For in that simple statement you share with all of us how to bring balance and harmony into a world of war fueled by starvation, despair and men with no other viable means to change their situation. By giving them the cans and scrap metal rusting over here, we gave them the raw materials to develop goods they could sell to the world to use to buy (rather than steal or acquire at sword point) the food and oil to feed and heat their nation. And as you stated, we did not just give them plenty - enough to quiet their stomachs - we gave them more than plenty. Not only the coat off of our backs, but our openness to let them mend it and sell it back to us. We not only gave them fish to eat, Drucker taught them how to fish so well they could feed the world with high tech instead of toys and get fed in return. (Rather like the definition of heaven, where the spoons as so long the only way to get fed is by your neighbor, and that of hell when no one is willing to pick up the spoon first.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I think on Dec 7th we reaped the ignorance we had about what nations will do when faced with starvation and extinction, and the bliss we had about being separate and isolated from the world was shattered. Shattered too was the false belief that distance provided safety in a world where while we lived in abundance with hopes of making the American dream come true it did not matter that others starved and had no hope left. Put bluntly, we gave them our trash, and they thrived by applying their natural skills of craftsmanship, detail work, and a philosophy of beauty in form and function. Now we are one of their biggest trading partners, and our economies are deeply intertwined. So intertwined that it would be very hard for either of us to go to war with the other. For they are no longer the "other". They are a part of us - our partners in world conglomerates, our school teachers and dentists and US senators. And we are a part of them - their largest group of consumers, their workers in American based manufacturing plants, their largest provider of rice and other food staples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You hope that "our people and politicians will one day get a little more sentimental over the little white markers in our national cemetaries." Rather than getting sentimental, I hope they get smart. That the "senti" and "mental" mean that they come to their senses and let reason reign in the false beliefs. That they get mad enough to be motivated to say "never again" and fired up enough to actively work to make sure that the seeds of war never take root again. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . So DB, I get that you "will NEVER forget it!" Do you get that in sharing your feelings about war, you give us all one of the answers to help ensure it will not happen again? That the wisdom in your words, if you can read between the lines, is an important one to put into action? That the box of "Good & Plenty" candy you probably ate in movie theaters in the 1950s embodies the wisdom you share that "if you give them plenty, they will give you goods in return", and men busy working successfully to feed, clothe and house their families make very poor soldiers? That there is magic in your words, if you know how to listen for it? The question now is what will you do with the magic you possess?