"Mary took a pound of costly ointment. of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment"
Last year of June, the United States helped broker for a peaceful settlement between Philippines and China on Scarborough Shoal dispute but the latter never left. Philippines' claim is based primarily on Exclusive Economic Zone of 200 miles off the shore of sovereign states as implemented by the U.N. Convention Law of the Sea from 1982 .The Shoal is about 198 kilometres (123 miles) west of Subic Bay. To the east of the shoal is the 5,000–6,000 meters (16,000–20,000 ft) deep Manila Trench. The nearest landmass is Palauig, Zambales on Luzon island in the Philippines, due east 220 km (137 miles) .
On the other hand, China based their claims from Xia and Han dynasty records, and a 1947 map made by Kuomintang wherein the nine-dash line was taken which pushes up against the other countries' coastlines within the area.
Although these countries differ in religious belief, both believe in Karma. According to Buddhism, karma serves as incentive to do good to be kind, tolerant, and considerate.
The former as a christian nation have been raised with a golden rule, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.".
The latter as a Bhuddist, Confucian and Taoist country has been developed by its golden rule, "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." (Udana-Varga 5,1); "Do not do to others what you would not like yourself. Then there will be no resentment against you, either in the family or in the state." (Analects 12:2); "Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence." (Mencius VII.A.4); "Tsekung asked, "Is there one word that can serve as a principle of conduct for life?" Confucius replied, "It is the word shu--reciprocity: Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you." (Analects 15.23).
When connected, both religion have the same precepts as the lifeblood of its existence which serve as an image towards conscientious productivity. Christian is guided by values on fair competence , "Neither shall you steal"; "Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor"; "You shall not desire anything that is your neighbor's.
Buddhism is brought up with impartial ethics like, "I undertake the precept to refrain from taking that which is not given" ; "I undertake the precept to refrain from faulty speech.(I shall not lie, talk with double tongue, bear false witness against others, talk of others short-comings and faults, making jokes, or talk about irrelevant subjects that have no benefit for my quest to become enlightenment)" ; and "I undertake the precept to refrain from accepting gold and silver (money). (I will refrain from accepting and possess any material and wealth since they belong to sentient beings. I understand that if I do not conquer my greed, I shall not be able to escape the cycle of life and death. I will not dwell in heaven with my great merits while sentient beings are still suffering in other three miserable realms). While Confucian which follows Budhhism also observes the same edicts.
However, with the present conflict that these two countries have been facing, China seemingly curbs its values in exchange of misrepresented ownership. It's interesting to note that as nations who believe on Karma, the reckoning always comes in different forms. Taken from the entire history of world's leaders who swerve from their respective religious values to their unrighteous ambitions, everyone ended up in an unhappy state of their destiny.
For example, Adolf Hitler of Germany associated his suicide to Europe's ruin of civilization and senseless sacrifice of six million jews for the sake of power and his own commitment to the bestial nonsense of National Socialist race mythology.
Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand was sentenced to 2 year imprisonment because of corruption, and so Gloria Arroyo and Joseph Estrada of the Philippines, while
Ferdinand Marcos was denied of a burial in Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroe's Cemetery) being tagged as the second most corrupt leader of all time.
Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya who was known as a financer of a broad spectrum of revolutionary or terrorist groups worldwide (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/485369/Muammar-al-Qaddafi); Osama Bin Laden who retaliated by bombing the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in the U.S. brought by injustice and tyranny of the American-Israeli alliance against his people in Palestine and Lebanon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden); Saddam Hussein of Iraq who was convicted of crimes against humanity, including willful killing, illegal imprisonment, deportation, and torture— all faced their violent untimely death.
Franklin Roosevelt of the U.S. who was a traitor for maneuvering Japan into war for sacrificing American lives, for putting America in danger, for usurping the Constitutional power of Congress to make war, can be an image of dangerous values that have been passed on from generation to generation.
It is interesting to note that, "the defense overspending of the United State has led to a civilian / social service deficit -- including under-investment in infrastructure, education, and health care -- and as a consequence, the economy has suffered, resulting in lower Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. Further, that military overspending, along with the financial crisis and the Great Recession, limited the U.S.'s ability to deploy an adequate-sized fiscal stimulus to create jobs, and that underinvestment's impact on society has not been insignificant or unnoticeable".
"Peace could alter the human condition, if only the one trillion dollars (which brought economic and human , environmental, moral and psychological costs) or so the world still spends each year on wars and war preparations could be diverted to more productive channels towards quality of life of most individuals on this planet, and the human prospect, would have been dramatically improved."
In the Gospel, God used the story of two well-known women in the Scripture, Martha and Mary, to exemplify the type of relationship He wants with each of us. Martha character depicts a that is worrisome on exernalities while Mary epitomizes a framework which preserves the most significant. At times, we tend to forget that God is bigger than whatever current issues that every country is facing. China may have been burdened on how to feed a nearly 1.4 billion mouths which lead them to such an act, but we should remember that this world which exists for more than 2000 years now has been in different crises but eventually survived in the long run which is an indication that God never forsakes us but constantly provide us with the wisdom that is capable of balancing our earth's survival, our security, our stability, our tranquility, and our lives.
PRAYER
Lord, Jesus, as a globe which You created as one family, we beseech your mercy to empower us with extravagant love like that of Mary so we could think of ingenious alternatives of optimum productivity without compromises on on others' financial dependability, life's security and natural resources resilience which are significant to life's sustainability. Amen!
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