Previously I’ve blogged about Jimmy Carter’s latest book, Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis (Simon & Schuster, 2005), on his definition of success in life, in 50 words. I spent close to half of morning yesterday finishing reading the book, while my wife was taking part in the Buddhist mantra chanting session. This is not my usual style of reading, which tends to follow a discrete fashion, i.e., a few pages a day. That's why the book had been with me for the past nine weeks (original period plus two extension of 3 weeks each, which expired on the very day). Then again, it is not the only book that I was reading, which typically numbers several and which book gets to be read depends on where I'm in the house when the reading bug hits. But I must admit that reading the book from half way (covered in the above haphazard manner) till the end can be a breeze too. Anyway, back to the book.
I found more gems of thoughts from a well-regarded statesman who is also a devout Christian at heart, that resonate with my (limited) understanding of the Buddha teaching that has been my guiding light in life. Here are some:1) "All major religious faiths are shaped by prophetic mandates to do justice, love mercy, protect and care for widows and orphans, and exemplify God's compassion for the poor and victimized." [So often the opposite messages are sent when a small group of followers takes upon themselves to wield and exercise the mandates within narrow interpretation, and selectively at that.]
2) What is the World's greatest challenge in the new millennium?
"The growing chasm between the rich and the poor people on earth, and the gap is steadily widening". [This is the proverbial dichotomy of the haves and haves-not, but I would grant that religious strife will take a close second.]
3) What can just one person do?
"When combined, the small individual contributors of caring, friendship, forgiveness, and love, each of us different from our next-door neighbors, can form a phalanx, an army, with great capability". [As I’ve said before, Buddhism stresses the here and now. So a person cared for, befriended, forgiven, or loved, is exactly that, and it is not going to diminish in any way no matter what the sheer number of people uncared for, dumped, avenged, or hated, is.]
4) The Declaration of Independence, among other things, decrees “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” [I’ve to plead ignorance for not realizing that the pursuit of happiness is explicitly stated as an unalienable right, despite having visited the Independence Hall at Philadelphia twice, the more recent trip made in June 2005 as per the picture taken in front of the Independence Visitor Center with the Liberty Bell in the background, through the glass wall. Just learned that the movie, Pursuit of Happyness (note that it’s spelt with a y) by Will Smith, topped the box office last week. So this shall be our next movie in the theatre after Happy Feet, unless we succumb to watching Night in the Museum by Ben Stiller and Robin Williams in the IMAX theatre first.]5) What is a Superpower?
Size does matter, but it is not in terms of physical prowess, but rather the size of the heart as evinced through “a demonstrable commitment to truth, justice, peace, freedom, humility, human rights, generosity and the upholding of other moral values.” [such as compassion, giving, and lending a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on.]
6) OK, this last bit has more to do with economics and earning power, but in a way it’s also a viable means towards averting that yawning chasm listed above (2). In an earlier blog, I’ve stated that the minimum wage for Florida will be at $6.67 in 2007 while "Democrats have pledged to use their new control of Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour over two years from the current $5.15, the first increase in a decade”, according to an MSNBC online story entitled Small businesses brace for minimum wage hike. In comparison, the book provided the following minimum wage figures in US dollars and based on currency values in April 2005:
- Australia, $8.66
- France, $8.88
- Italy, $9.18
- England, $9.20
- Germany, $12.74
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