a thought...

This just occurred to me during history class one day.

I was wondering how it was possible that India, a country that was so advanced at first - they had smallpox vaccinations 1000 years before Europe! - could be a third world country today!

And then I noticed - they were a settled country, thriving, everything was established. But that was where they stopped. They didn't go out and explore, they didn't go out and trade with others. If people wanted what they offered, they had to come and get it.

And that was where they went wrong.

They sat there and said all finished! They didn't go out. So they disappeared. I'm pretty sure that India used to be a significant place; now, the first time most of us heard about it was by the Mumbai attacks.

The lesson is this: If you stay where you are and think you're complete, you will fall. If you aren't growing, you're falling. A Jew has to be a Mehalech. We learned this in Tanya last year, but I just really understood why you'll fall. Because if you aren't refining your inventions, your economy, your middos, they'll rust and fall apart.

L'chaim