Victory Without War

INSIGHTS OF THE WISE imbalance. In 1986, Japan sold goods to the US to the value of $60 billion in excess of the goods purchased from the States, contributing to the total American trade deficit of $170 billion. Indigenous rice production costs Japan $2,000 a ton, yet it is not prepared to buy rice from its benefactor, the US, offered at $180 a ton, with a view “to protect Japanese farmers.” The US is sore that the “Japanese have closed their markets to American goods.” (The Times of India, April 2, 1989, p.2) After the Second World War, America stood as the victor and dominant power, while Japan was the defeated and subjugated nation. Yet the steps taken by the victor for its own benefit were turned by the defeated into advantages of its own. That is the true test of today’s world. Success belongs to those who can find opportunity in the hostile plans of their opponents, who can turn their enemy’s strategies into stepping-stones for their own progress. In this world, even defeat can open the door to victory. Here, battles can be won without war. But this is only for the wise; for the unwise, there is no true success in God’s world. For them, even victory turns into defeat, and defeat remains defeat.