It Is Not Enough To Stare Up

Twenty Or Thirty Years Ago, In The Army, We Had A Lot Of Obscure Adventures, And Years Later We Tell Them At Parties, And Suddenly We Realize That Those Two Very Difficult Years Of Our Lives Have Become Lumped Together Into A Few Episodes That Have Lodged In Our Memory In A Standardized Form, And Are Always Told In A Standardized Way, In The Same Words. But In Fact That Lump Of Memories Has Nothing Whatsoever To Do With Our Experience Of Those Two Years In The Army And What It Has Made Of Us.

As In Everything Else, I Must Start With Myself. That Is: In All Circumstances Try To Be Decent, Just, Tolerant, And Understanding, And At The Same Time Try To Resist Corruption And Deception. In Other Words, I Must Do My Utmost To Act In Harmony With My Conscience And My Better Self.

Planetary Democracy Does Not Yet Exist But Our Global Civilization Is Already Preparing A Place For It. It Is The Very Earth We Inhabit Linked With Heaven Above Us. Only In This Setting Can The Mutuality And The Commonality Of The Human Race Be Newly Created With Reverence And Gratitude For That Which Transcends Each Of Us And All Of Us Together.

Anyone Who Takes Himself Too Seriously Always Runs The Risk Of Looking Ridiculous; Anyone Who Can Consistently Laugh At Himself Does Not.

I Have Preserved My Identity, Put Its Credibility To The Test And Defended My Dignity. What Good This Will Bring The World I Don't Know. But For Me It Is Good.