Peace in our time

Recently I presented two bottles of premium brandy as early Chinese New Year gifts to rival landowners. This is a very significant change in both attitude and strategy from preceding years in the past. As since time immemorial we have been at each other’s throats – where the roles we each play is not unlike the Looney tunes reenactment between the Coyote and the road runner – they try their very best to ruin me financially at every turn and opportunity, while I am content to hit them as best I can with my limited means on the run.

Hence. This is the very first time where I have acknowledged in such a public manner to all – they are my elders by offering them tributes of respect as a minion – it is an act of humility that says, I am so small compared to you all….and I hope we can set aside our differences and work towards some semblance of peace.

It is very hard to say how this gesture will go down with my business rivals – my greatest fear is it will be interpreted, as an act of weakness. But I do not believe for one moment, the level headed amongst them will necessarily see it that way at all – since thru the years I have waged a war of equal measure where I have been able to hit very hard despite being numerically outnumbered, having a smaller network and making do with nett value of a war chest the size of a piggy bank.

The second possibility is that it may be perceive as an attempt on my part of buy more time for breathing space. After all some of them suspect quite rightly – I don’t nearly have the capacity to wage a long and protracted campaign – I can certainly hit and run…but if I am drawn into a war of attrition. I am certain to lose.

But again it is unlikely they will come to such a conclusion. As in the past I have proven to be excruciatingly painful to their interest whenever they underestimate me.

The third possibility is they may believe this is yet another one of my super sly ploys to feign weakness in order to embolden them to launch an attack that I can easily blunt and wipe them all out once and for all – again this is a distinct possibility as in the past, I have often feigned weakness or incapacity only to turn around a bite them.

Then there is the final possibility – I may be reading too much into all this. That it’s all happening in my brain – that all this may even be a great diffusion of energy signifying absolutely nothing that can possibly relate to what might actually pan out in the real world.

I hope it is this final and last possibility – as I am genuine in my aspirations for peace in our time….I want to be able to hang up my sword and even consign my armor into the darkest recesses of my attic to just sit there and gather dust happily….It seems I have been fighting for so long…this is the only life I have ever known.

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‘It is not important how others see me. What is vitally important is that I myself can internally convinced that I have done everything humanly possible to create conditions that is favorable to peaceful coexistence – even if my approaches are rebuffed, that is not important to me….as what remains vitally important is on record at least, I have tried and failed….whatever follows thereafter I will accept without complain – this is after all my lot…my karma.

As if I did not even once try – then you can say I am this or that – and maybe you can even say I did not avail myself to all the options that was available to me….but if I tried and fail..then who can blame me if I continue to wage war. Even then I do so with the hope that I can sue for peace.’