The Book of Life

with resilience can succeed—the one who can remain firm in distressing situations. One who lacks this inner strength will meet the same end as that old woman. Resilience turns the weak into the strong; without it, even the strong become weak and defeated. AGAINST ONESELF I n the present scientific age, one of the new weapons developed was the use of poisonous gases, stored and turned into “bombs” to be dropped on the enemy. However, such stockpiles are now being destroyed, as experience has shown that they pose a serious danger even to the country that possesses them. A report from the United States (The Times of India, January 24, 1989) stated that, after years of study, the U.S. army decided to destroy 69,453 rockets filled with deadly nerve gas, stored in Richmond, Kentucky. For this purpose, a special furnace would be built at the depot. Similar rockets were stored at seven other sites. All of them would be destroyed in incinerators. These deadly gas weapons were found to be as dangerous to the possessor as to the enemy. If stored too long, they could suddenly ignite, releasing an odourless, invisible mist that would kill everything in its path: “These poison gas weapons are now acknowledged to be as much a threat to the possessor as to the