I never lamented about the vicissitudes of time, or complained of the turns of fortune, except on the occasion when I was barefooted and unable to procure slippers. But when I entered the great mosque of Kufah with a sore heart, and beheld a man without feet, I offered thanks to the bounty of God, consoled myself for my want of shoes and recited, “A roast fowl is to the sight of a satiated man, less valuable than a blade of fresh grass on the table; and to him who has no means nor power… a burnt turnip is a roasted fowl.”
Excerpt from the Gulistan, or “Rose Garden” by, Saʿdī
Saadi wrote that around 1259CE in Persia which is now now Iran.
Taking a few minutes to just sit quietly and ponder such ancient words of wisdom like this helps to see a much clearer picture of the state of humanity throughout the ages. Everyone should do it.
In my estimation, the ancient world was more civilized than we are now, even though we read the history of war and conquest, those wars were all fought via hand to hand combat, and simple weaponry like bows and arrows, and spears. In this respect, they were actually well contained.
Now, we have attained the ability to end all life on earth. On top of that, the seekers of knowledge are diminishing, while the seekers of chaos are growing exponentially. My reasoning for this surmounting phenomenon is that it has everything to do with both the dwindling of the ‘family unit’ coupled with the perpetuation of the misguided.
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