The Positive Side of Accepting Defeat

The Positive Side of Accepting Defeat

1988 7 July 13 The Positive Side of Accepting Defeat (260) “Defeated in World War II (1945), Japan emerged from the ruins of war as one of the major economic powers in the world.”

Japan, defeated by America in World War II, was occupied by American military forces in April 1945. General Douglas Mac Arther was appointed Supreme Commander in Japan, where he lived until 1951. A new constitution, drawn up with his approval, and ratified by the Japanese Assembly on November 3, 1946, reduced the status of the Emperor of Japan to that of a mere symbolic head of state. Under article 9, the Japanese nation was also made to pledge that “land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained.” (10/87).

This constitution apparently sounded the death-knell of Japan as nation, but Japanese leaders showed great foresight in accepting it. They saw that although it closed all doors to Japan from the military and political point of view, the door to industrial and scientific advance still stood wide open. Withdrawing from the field of military and political confrontation, the Japanese nation began to exploit the remaining opportunities in the fields of science and industry. Just 40 years later, historians, were compelled to write these words about Japan:

“Defeated in World War II (1945), Japan emerged from the ruins of war as one of the major economic powers in the world” (V/519).

The acceptance of the present opens up hitherto unsuspected paths to the future. Those who reject the realities of the present will themselves debarred from access to the potentialities of the future.