"It's better to be a warrior in a garden..."

I've been watching the television series Shogun, based upon James Clavell's classic novel that takes place in Japan in the year 1600 during the Azuchi–Momoyama period.  Since our family trip to Japan last summer, I've been more interested in learning about the fascinating history and culture of Japan.  At least partly based on this newfound interest, I added The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi to this year's Leadership Reverie Reading List.  There's a powerful vignette from the book that I've been thinking about a lot lately: 

A student said to his master: "You teach me fighting, but you talk about peace.  How do you reconcile the two?"  The master replied: "It is better to be a warrior in a garden than to be a gardener in a war."

I've heard similar proverbs from ancient Sparta ("The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war") and ancient Rome ("If you want peace, prepare for war").  I'm also reminded of a quote I first heard during my time in the United States Navy Medical Corps: "The more we sweat in training, the less they bleed in war."

The key lesson here is one of preparedness (The Boy Scout motto "Be Prepared" was something I learned from an early age).  The United States began building up its military long before December 7, 1941, which is why the U.S. was able to mobilize its military much faster when it entered World War II compared to when it entered World War I.  The point is to begin preparing for any kind of adverse event, disaster, or even war (see "Imagine the Worst") when you don't think it's necessary to do so!