Idea Log 01072011

THE BENEFITS OF DAMS It rains, drenching the mountains, and the water seeps into the earth and forms rivulets, streams, and rivers, flowing out through the land, creating fertile plains before emptying into the sea. As long as the flow is used skillfully, the land prospers, but if something goes wrong, raging waters may cause flooding, or lack of rainfall may devastate crops. This is the result of just letting the water flow and not using it with careful thought. Now consider the dam. We can dam the flow to form a reservoir of water that can be used in effective ways. When we know we have plenty of water, we can let the waters flow through; when we have little, we can store it up. This is a lesson that human civilization has learned. Just as reservoirs are useful in rivers, so they are in our daily life. Having reserves is good both materially and mentally. There is nothing intelligent in a life of uncontrolled consumption and wastefulness. In the same way that we build big, strong dams for great rivers and small reservoirs for small streams, as needed under the circumstances, so individuals can put to use the information they have to form various dams to regulate their lives. The principle applies not only to individuals' lives, but in business as well; reserves in corporate management are highly to be recommended. Even more valuable are such reserves on the level of the management of a country. They will support the genuine and stable prosperity of a nation and its people. (The Path by Konosuke Matsushita) Additional references: http://governmentgirl1943lp.typepad.com/blog/2011/06/idea-log-02062011.html http://governmentgirl1943lp.typepad.com/blog/2011/06/idea-log-29062011.html http://governmentgirl1943lp.typepad.com/blog/2011/06/idea-log-19062011.html