Sunday, November 25, 2007

"other" or brother?

The quote " The man who finds his country sweet is only a raw beginner; the man for whom each country is as his own is already strong; but only the man for whom the whole world is as a foreign country is perfect" is somewhat misguided. It is my belief that "the man for whom each country is as his own" is the most perfect. The reasoning behind this is that this man would be inclined to look out for the best interests of every country, as he thinks of each as his own. On the contrary the man who approaches every country as a foreigner could be trying to exploit every country as he considers none of them his own. Therefore the first man would be the one more likely to carry himself in a morally responsible manner because he would see everyone as his equal and none as the "other" , while the second would be more likely to see himself as above all those he encountered. So the question is which is more perfect: to think of every man as your brother?, or to think of every man as "other". Who would you treat kinder? Who is more likely to trade with you, help you, merge with you to become stronger? I think we can all agree that the answer would be your brother and that the more perfect man is he who sees each country as his own.

1 comment:

Nord See said...

But isn't your brother an 'other' still?