The Moral Vision
An Economic Pearl Harbour
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competition. The resulting situation can be
approached in two entirely different ways. One is to
collide with anything which obstructs our path. The
other is to circumvent obstacles and then to go on
our way. Clearly, the first is self-destructive, while
the second, in avoiding confrontations, is much
more likely to prove advantageous. A ship which
sails straight at a rock or an iceberg is doomed to
disaster. It is the ship which veers temporarily off
its course to avoid the reefs which will eventually
sail safely into harbour. Similarly, Japan, by giving
up ideas of military supremacy, has reached a much
more worthwhile objective—economic supremacy.
It is worth remembering that Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, once Symbols of Japan’s total
annihilation as a military power, are now symbols,
forty years later, of Japan’s stunning economic
success.
