Simple profound insight. Countries are man made. Humans, if you believe, are children of God. And if you are not, we are still defined less by our nationality, even where we are born (both my kids were born in one country but grew up in another and will likely pursue further studies in a third, let alone where they would eventually settle down to work). We are defined less by borders of a nation than by the work ethics of our culture, the values of our parents, the influences of our friends, the teachings of our educators and of course the spirit of our God.
Who we are are the combined result of many things, of which the nation has only some (limited) bearing. The thing that matters is that the country is the geographies which shape the peoples living on it. The harsher the environment, the tougher the people become in order to survive. The more adventurous amongst these tough people tend to migrate seeking more clement lands. They are then subject to discrimination by the natives. Driven by hunger, and a better life, they are prepared to endure hardship. Those who survive therefore also acquire mental resilience as well.
The Jews are oft-mentioned as being special, not because they were called God's special children but because they have shown themselves capable to overcoming the harshness of their lives and it's this constant learning that made them capable of achieving special things. Amongst all Jews, there is a group called the Ashkenazi Jews who, beyond the centuries of character forming desert wanderings and slaveries, migrated to lands new in Europe and faced yet more persecution. This is the group that produced the likes of Einstein, Rothschild and Golda Meier. The Chinese are similarly mentioned in the same breath, especially the Hakkas. Literally, they are called Guest people, because like the Ashkenazis they migrated from the inclement northern territories to the south and faced all the usual mistreatment of their hosts. ZhuGeLiang, Sun Yat Sen, Deng XiaoPing and Lee Kuan Yew are all Hakkas. It's almost bred into them to face the harshest challenges, take on the slimmest odds and win. Leadership at a grand scale.
Today, I am in London. Still one of the major capitals of the world and a melting pot filled with migrants from all over the world. Just a century ago it was undoubtedly the centre of the empire, which was then one of the most powerful in the world. I walked past Westminster Abbey to the Parliament and across the Westminster bridge. Constructions aimed at impressing the crowds, to exert ultimate power, of the church and of the government. There is a small square next to the Abbey called Parliament Square. Statues of great men, national leaders like Churchill, Mandela and now Gandhi, stand on its edges.
It got me thinking. Apart from Mandela and Gandhi, most national leaders from Churchill and Meier to Deng to Lee, they had to make some really tough trade-offs for the greater good of the nation. Imagine Churchill having to order young men and women to certain deaths so the nation could survive. How does one do it?
Do they have a different sort of moral compass? And in the wake of terrorist attacks (most recently the random killings across Paris), one can indeed imagine that there are grounds for taking out the perpetrators. But if you step back, can this really be justified? Can violence on any scale, on any grounds, upon any intent, ever be condoned. For wouldn't it, with man remaining true to it's basal human nature, only cause revenge and perpetuate this cycle; with a new generation of terrorists to wreck more havoc in the world.
In the final analysis, the answer has been provided to us. Goodwill to all and Peace on earth. How we use our world-hewn talents to enact this is up to us.
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