WHAT MAKES A NATION STRONG

 

                WHAT MAKES A NATION STRONG

Countries are classified as developed, developing and undeveloped. The main basis is their industrial development and the wealth produced by it. However, there is no equal distribution of wealth among the people of any country. There are very poor and very rich people side by side.

Some unworldly philosophers don’t agree that wealth is the essential basis of a country’s strength. According to them, the wealth of a state, consists not in great treasures, solid walls, fair palaces, weapons and armour; but its best and noblest wealth, and its truest safety, is in having learned, wise honourable, and well-educated citizens.

There is also no single definition of wealth. For Greek philosopher Epicurus (341 Bc—270 BC) wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.   

To conclude, here is a poem titled “A Nation’s Strength” by the American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882):

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.

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G.R.Kanwal

5^th March 2024