RESERVATION: A SUICIDAL APPROACH A Positive Approach Required

supremacy over Japan. Yet Japan’s subsequent success story is one of the greatest of modern times. STRATEGIC RETREAT It is only those who accept defeat and then do something positive about it that ultimately succeed. There is nothing to stop an individual, community or nation from working towards regaining, or even bettering its lost position, for a strategic retreat always makes it possible to return to the fray. Such tactics were very well understood by the Muslims 1,400 years ago while drafting up the peace treaty of Hudaibiya. This approach, although apparently over-conciliatory towards the opponent, ultimately facilitated the very positive progress of the Islamic mission. In this competitive world, our success and sometimes our very survival, depends upon superior performance. Sinking into a state of paranoid stagnation will achieve nothing. While there is nothing to be gained from pessimism, there is everything to be gained from a positive approach. Flowers and Thorns It is a fact of psychology that no single person can be an amalgam of all good qualities. It is no simple matter to label a person wholly good or wholly bad. If there is to be harmony within a community, the bad side of its members must be tolerated, while their good side appreciated. If we want to pluck flowers, we have also to bear the thorns that come with them. There is no way that one who cannot put up with thorns will be able to possess the flowers of this life.