On Equal Footing

After a spell of wet season the sun came up and it was very hot. A worm peeped out and quickly withdrew to its clammy shelter. The teacher of incomparable wisdom observed: “ a worm can use the whole earth against the sun.” He guided his disciples along the countryside and a storm suddenly raged and the sage safely guided his pupils into the hollow of a cave. “ The entire hill is at our disposal to deflect the fury of elements.” He summed up at the end of the day thus: ” wisdom of man merely works along the grain of his world. Peaceful coexistence allows creatures as lowly as man or worm to live and let live.”
Shortly thereafter they came across a scorched land in ruin. The entire town had been ravaged by war. The pupils expected the master to give an opinion. After a long silence he said, “ Here we see what is unique to us: power disengaged from wisdom.”
Power coupled with wisdom is discretion while power let on its own steam makes the wise conduct themselves as fools and we need not be surprised if fools are made to sit over the destinies of nations.
In order to prove my point I only need to cite the war on terror as waged by the US. When the law givers fall in with immoral course of action proposed by a bunch of ‘chicken hawks’ lest they be seen as weak aren’t they being foolish?
benny