|
|
|
 |
The following is extracted from here. These were penned by William J H Boetcker in first half of the 20th century.
THE TEN CANNOTS (writer's inferences)
1. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. 2008 is what happens when there is collective amnesia on this count.
2. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. This holds itself well when talking about class; but will it hold in the same measure for caste and the 'various firsts' who have the ignominy of being monolithically labelled as 'tribals' as those who need to be saved??
3. You cannot help little men by tearing down the big men. Tearing down Nehru's legacy will leave behind a gaping hole in the history of modern India for posterity.
4. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. This is not a license to profiteer, but to profit fairly and in a dignified manner.
5. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. When a large farmer suffers, so do the landless labourers. The solution is to make the landless labourer a tiller of his own land. For that to happen, the large farmer must display, if not a lot then, certainly a little bit of magnanimity with parting with bit of his land.
6. You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
7. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. Or religious hatred for that matter. Or, an irrational fear of the minorities. Of course, we all assume that everyone wishes to establish brotherhood of man, and that the disagreement is only of methods and not of mission. But what if there are those who call into the question the mission?
8. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. Which is, as Mr. Rajan said, that you cannot have low inflation and low interest rates at the same time for very long.
9. You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence. Which is why you cannot have a singular strand of nationalism. Initiative of each men will necessarily spin a mosaic.
10. And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves. Which is why a death penalty has no place in a civilized nation. With a death penalty you can only extract revenge and can never reform. To reform a man, and society, needs the compassionate refuge of an enlightened religion. Unfortunately, you cannot be compassionate on behalf of others; each man must forge his own sense of compassion.
SEVEN NATIONAL CRIMES
1. I don't think.
2. I don't know.
3. I don't care.
4. I am too busy.
5. I leave well enough alone.
6. I have no time to read and find out.
7. I am not interested.
| |
|