READING FOR CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING

JOHN MIGUEL F. MORALES

GLARES T. NALUMEN

THE PARADOX OF PREPAREDNESS FOR

PEACE

That preparedness brings about peace is a false philosophy. On the contrary, it

usually results in war.

Take the case of two men who have just moved into a village. They live side by

side. They introduce themselves to each other and start to become friends. One tells

himself that for the sake of ensuring peace in the neighborhood, he should take care not

to infringe on his neighbor's rights. But at the same time, he thinks of how he could

protect himself and his family against him. He goes to a store, buys a gun, and tells

himself that if his neighbor would interfere with him, he would not hesitate to kill him.

Without his knowing it, his neighbor who also proclaims his love for peace, goes to

town, obtains a gun, a better one, and gets himself ready to defend his rights, honor,

family.

THE PARADOX OF PREPAREDNESS FOR

PEACE

The case of these two men is similar to the case of two nations who talk about

their love for peace while boasting of their battleships and their readiness to fight. They

do not get a battleship simply to boast of their acquisitions. They have it in preparation

for war. They are as determined to protect themselves from any attack as a man who

carries a gun. He has it for protection. However, experience tells us that a man who

carries a gun tends to use it on slight provocation and tends to provoke its use by

others.

Preparedness provokes trouble. Hence, it does not preserve peace. We must

conclude that as a man who carries a gun is a menace to the peace of a community, so

the nation who keeps guns is a menace to the peace of the world.

• Reading an argumentative/persuasive discourse is an exercise in developing

critical

understanding. You identify the issue, weigh the arguments, and follow them

in their logical conclusion. You become discriminating, checking out the facts,

generalizing cautiouslyon the basis of what you know.