The Most Anxious Nation on Earth?

The Most Anxious Nation on Earth

                Population                                                        Military Spending

US           317,655,000                                                  $682 Billion (4.1 times greater)  

China      1,360,720,000 (4.3 times greater population)     $166 Billion

Who’s the most anxious?

In the maxims of ancient wisdom, who’s the most foolish? 

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I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me: There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man. So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.

The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded
    than the shouts of a ruler of fools.
Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
    but one sinner destroys much good.

(Qohelet, Ecclesiastes 9.13-18)

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When the world follows the Way, riding horses are retired to fertilize the fields.

When the world strays from the Way, war horses are bred even in the cities.

No crime is greater than having precious things;

No disaster is greater than not knowing when one has enough.

No defect is greater than desire.

The contentment of knowing that you have enough, is truly enduring.

(Te-Tao Ching, 46)

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We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the positive affirmation of peace. We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody that is far superior to the discords of war. Somehow, we must transform the dynamics of the world power struggle from the negative nuclear arms race, which no one can win, to a positive contest to harness humanity's creative genius for the purpose of making peace and prosperity a reality for all the nations of the world. In short, we must shift the arms race into a peace race. If we have a will- and determination- to mount such a peace offensive, we will unlock hitherto tightly sealed doors of hope and transform our imminent cosmic elegy into a psalm of creative fulfillment. (Martin Luther King. In a sermon at Riverside Church in New York City on April 4, 1967)

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