A NATION’S STRENGTH
“A Nation’s Strength” is a little poem by the American
poet-philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson (25 May 1803- 27 April 1882).
It reads as follows:
Not gold but only men, can make
A people great and strong
Men who for truth and honour’s sake
Stand fast and suffer long.
Brave men who work while others sleep
Who dare while others fly –
They build a nation’s pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.
I have read
this poem many times, yet I want to read it many times more. It is the gist of all the qualities which nation
builders should acquire and keep on practising till the last breath of their
life.
It is also a poem which should be placed
before school children, college and university scholars, teachers and professors,
poets , writers, educationists, political leaders, social
activists , business magnates, religious heads, army men and their generals.
What does this poem say? Just one thing: man- power, not money-power, is the real
strength of a nation.
Truly, gold cannot make a nation
strong without all those people who have to work hard in the innumerable fields
of life.
Such dynamic men stand fast for truth
and honour, and prefer to keep awake while others enjoy sleep .
It is these extraordinarily industrious
men who “build a nation’s pillars deep and lift them to the
sky.” They are also distinct for their courage as they continue to dare the
enemy while others flee.
To conclude: shouldn’t newspapers and journals carry this
poem as frequently as possible to remind their patriotic readers that:
“That not
gold, but only men, can make a nation strong.”
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4th May 2022 G.R.Kanwal
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