The Moral Vision
Character Builds the Nation
~ 311 ~
It is temperament then which plays the most crucial
role in the making of a nation. It is important in
nation-building in the way that bricks are important
in any kind of construction work. A house made of
unfired bricks is unsafe, because any calamity, even
a minor one, can bring it tumbling down. A
building, on the other hand, which is made of kiln-
fired bricks can be trusted to withstand the
onslaught of tempests and floods.
A character so tempered that it can be depended
upon through thick and thin—like the kiln-fired
brick—is what in the long run builds a nation, for it
is only such a temperament which can remain
attuned to the more and more complex procedures
of industrialization and remain steadfastly geared
to national progress.
