Thursday, June 04, 2009
A quote to get you thinking
I just finished reading E. H Gombrich’s ‘A Little History of The World, a surprisingly enjoyable book once you get past the first couple of pages which seem to talk to children and not adults. It actually is aimed at pretty much all ages and reads that way beyond the opening. The book was first published in 1936 but only recently did the author add a final chapter and translate it into English.
A quote near the end caught my eye, as it surely demands that we all look at ourselves and our respective countries, and ask some serious questions. It is from an unnamed Buddhist Monk the author knows.
He would “love to know why someone who boasts that he is the cleverest, the strongest, the bravest or the most gifted man on Earth is thought ridiculous and embarrassing, whereas if, instead of “I”, he says, ‘we are the most intelligent, the strongest, the bravest or the most gifted people on Earth’, his fellow countrymen applaud enthusiastically and call him a patriot.”
Perhaps if a few more people thought this way, we would have less conflict and would treasure our neighbours instead of thinking many of them beneath us. I will not point fingers at individual countries. Most or all are guilty to some extent, and certainly, some more so than others. I can think of one where the crowds go wild every time a politician proclaims it the greatest country on Earth. As a sound bite, it certainly works. But just consider how those listening think of others when they proudly take this message to heart and how they (perhaps you) view the outside world as a direct consequence of believing this. It really isn’t possible to put yourself on a pedestal of any kind without all those who don’t share your pedestal being beneath you. And if you think that last statement isn’t true, I respectfully suggest that you are fooling yourself, but not others.
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A quote near the end caught my eye, as it surely demands that we all look at ourselves and our respective countries, and ask some serious questions. It is from an unnamed Buddhist Monk the author knows.
He would “love to know why someone who boasts that he is the cleverest, the strongest, the bravest or the most gifted man on Earth is thought ridiculous and embarrassing, whereas if, instead of “I”, he says, ‘we are the most intelligent, the strongest, the bravest or the most gifted people on Earth’, his fellow countrymen applaud enthusiastically and call him a patriot.”
Perhaps if a few more people thought this way, we would have less conflict and would treasure our neighbours instead of thinking many of them beneath us. I will not point fingers at individual countries. Most or all are guilty to some extent, and certainly, some more so than others. I can think of one where the crowds go wild every time a politician proclaims it the greatest country on Earth. As a sound bite, it certainly works. But just consider how those listening think of others when they proudly take this message to heart and how they (perhaps you) view the outside world as a direct consequence of believing this. It really isn’t possible to put yourself on a pedestal of any kind without all those who don’t share your pedestal being beneath you. And if you think that last statement isn’t true, I respectfully suggest that you are fooling yourself, but not others.
