QUOTES
We
demand too much of others and too little of ourselves. No one wishes to be the
first to take the straight and narrow path. In addition, there is a tendency to
overrate our own goodwill and underestimate that of others. "Of course we want
to live in peace", we say. "But our neighbor and the others!" If only we would
worry a little less about others and a little more about ourselves, ask a little
less of others and more of ourselves!
A
new power is emerging from the depths and slowly spreading over land and water.
It is the concept of peace of the ancient sagas, enriched by new and immense cultural
progress. Those who seek after the lost paradise can see it shimmering in the
sunrise of a new era...
Like
many such legends in many nations, an old Nordic saga tells of a time when the
streets were paved with gold without tempting anyone to sin, a time when human
beings were good and their customs and laws mild, inspired by the spirit of wisdom.
The whole world lived a life of happiness. This paradise was buried in a mire
of conflict and degraded values. However, the hope of finding it again is not
yet lost. The nature of man provides a guarantee of this. Man's nature is fundamentally
good, or perhaps it is neither good nor evil. In any case, man is something to
work on. We must hold fast to this fact - man is something to work on.
Education
is the only certain road to the final goal of peace. And there is no higher goal.
The
relation between the pressures of militarism and the deterioration of social conditions
becomes more and more apparent. Vast resources are absorbed by militarism, without
benefit to anyone. If these were set free, we could double the harvests of the
nourishing earth, harness the power of roaring rivers for mills and factories,
and open up undreamt of opportunities to challenge the finest talents possessed
by man.
No
interests, however great, are higher than those common to the whole of mankind.
Among them, the foremost is the old commandment, as old as the oldest documents
of any nation: Thout shalt not kill! You are all of one blood. Love one another.
People can. Nations can. All this is eminently possible because love is as natural
as national hatred is the most unnatural of all human feelings.
