Building a Strong Nation

To him, the individual self was subordinate to the nation. It is true, of course, that everyone was working for himself, but it was not at the cost of the nation. Whenever there was any clash between personal and national interests, he made it a point of sacrificing his personal interests in favour of the greater good of the nation. The state of a nation depends invariably upon the state of the rank and file of the people who are its mainstay. A nation prospers or declines according to whether its inhabitants are pulling their weight or just mindlessly frittering away their time. A nation is comparable to a machine which works only so long as all its parts are of high quality, well-oiled, properly assembled and in working order. Similarly, a successful nation will be made up of individuals of sound character, well-integrated in society and with a thorough-going sense of cooperation. The building of a nation means, basically, the building of character. For without character, the utterly selfless dedication, which is a prerequisite for national success, will never manifest itself. Without reforming individuals, the reform of a nation will remain the stuff of dreams —illusory and without substance. Having a Constructive Temperament One Dr. Abdul Jalil of New Delhi once had the opportunity to visit Japan in 1970, where he stayed for six months. He later recounted an incident to me which cast a significant light on the Japanese character. It seems that during his stay in Tokyo, he would often take a 15-minute ride on a suburban train to a place just outside the city. One day, when fifteen minutes had passed and there was no sign of his station, he began to feel uneasy. Sure enough, when the train stopped, it was at some other station, and he realized that somehow or the other he had boarded the wrong train at Tokyo. In some