"If You Want To Gather Honey, Don't Kick Over The Beehive." - Dale Carnegie

2015: The Year Humanity Accepted Earth As Home

2015 has been an eventful year for the world. While different parties would name different events as very significant, I think we all agree that the biggest (& most hopeful) event of the year is the signing of the Paris Agreement. But there was a slight tremor of concern after the ink of all 195 signatures had dried. Some parties have started to get agitated about how the Agreement will be implemented. They feel that without some kind of "World Police", nobody will obey the rules or fulfil the commitments outlined during the Paris Climate Summit.

I disagree. Environmental protection is everybody's business. The only reason anyone would not feel personally responsible to do his part in preserving Earth, is if he didn't understand what would happen to his interests if he didn't care. If handled competently, diplomacy always triumphs over duress. But efficient negotiation not only depends on how you say something, but who you say it to, as well. It is imperative to identify the party that really will make the most receptive audience before saying a single word.

Since it is the Holiday Season, I decided to devote this year's last post for The Green Town Investor to remembering the wisdom of our ancestors. According to Eastern tradition, the wisest course to begin a new project - or a new year - is to remember the experience & advice of our ancestors, because, as renowned author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle put it, nothing ever happens that hasn't happened before.

The Woodcutter & The Trees

A woodcutter went into the forest and begged the trees the favor of a handle for his axe. The principal trees at once agreed to so modest a request, and unhesitatingly gave him a young ash sapling, out of which he fashioned the handle he desired. No sooner had he done so than he set to work to fell the noblest trees in the wood. When they saw the use to which he was putting their gift, they cried, “Alas! Alas! We are undone, but we are ourselves to blame. The little we gave has cost us all: had we not sacrificed the rights of the ash, we might ourselves have stood for ages.”

The Gnat & The Lion

A gnat came and said to a lion: “I do not the least fear you, nor are you stronger than I am. For in what does your strength consist? You can scratch with your claws, and bite with your teeth—so can a woman in her quarrels. I repeat that I am altogether more powerful than you; and if you doubt it, let us fight and see who will conquer.” The gnat, giving a war cry, attacked the lion, and stung him on the nostrils. The Lion, trying to crush him, tore himself with his claws, until he punished himself severely. The gnat thus prevailed over the lion, and buzzing about in a song of triumph, flew away. But shortly afterwards he became caught in a cobweb, and was eaten by a spider.