Yet another Sunday reflection

People who like books will frequent the book stores and comb the rows of racks. Occasionally we will find one or two good books. I got one that I liked two weeks ago but did not start reading until recently. This book with the title That Used To Be Us - What Went Wrong With America-And How It Can Come Back by Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum is an interesting book for those who like to keep themselves updated with the latest happening especially in the US which actually affects almost everybody in and out of the US. The content of the book is actually relevant to any country on the verge or even have fallen into the trap of complacency and self-deceiving good-feeling of greatness. As for this morning, I am just going to write a bit about the book because I have many more pages to go and I hope to be inspired to write more the next time. Let me start with three interesting quotes (all on the same page).
Under the title : Ignoring Our Problems, chapter two starts with the following two quotes:

• It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one most adaptable to change.-- Evolutionary theory
• We are going to do a terrible thing to you. We are going to deprive you of an enemy. -- Georgi Arbatov, Soviet expert on the US, speaking at the end of the Cold War.

In the first paragraph of the chapter we are reminded by Oscar Wilde's admonition : "In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it."
While the focus is on the US, the timely reminder of the book on being complacent, arrogant, immersed in self-delusion and refuse to acknowledge the strong undercurrent of advancing events may eventually bring about a lot of sufferings. Also, it is also stressed that competition is an important drive towards excellency, hence the advice from Oscar Wilde that while we are threatened by having to struggle to get something, we are equally threatened when if have already got that something...and be happy about it.....Full stop.