Weapons of Mass Creation

I recently read about yet another dispute over nuclear weapons.  I was surprised to read in the article that countries argue weapons of mass destruction are necessary for their sovereignty.  In order to be in the big leagues you need to have a big gun.  It made me think.  The sign of advancement is the ability to destroy.  But if we all unleashed our ability to destroy where would we be?  Where does destruction get us?  Yet we've set up this system of holding guns to one another's head, and the first one without a gun is declared the victim.  

What about creation?  We think we are so big and powerful because we can destroy something, but wouldn't it make more sense to be judged on what we can create--what we can add to this world--how we can improve our lives?  What if we unleashed the same amount of power in creation as we do in destruction--weapons of mass creation.  That would impress me.  But we can't, we don't even try because we're busy to stay on top so we don't get killed.  

I am reminded of J.R.R. Tolkien.  In one of his books discussing the origins of Middle Earth he described some dark gods who were unable to create.  So in their jealousy they kidnapped some of the elves and tortured them until they became twisted orcs.  They could create no new beings themselves, only twist those that already exist.  Isn't that what we do?  We cannot create more earth we only take it away.  And this is being sovereign?  This is being a world power?

When my youngest nephew plays with building blocks he becomes frustrated because his skills are not fine tuned enough to build a tower--so instead he takes delight in knocking everyone else's down.  So the only conclusion I can see is that becoming a sovereign nation requires unveiling your infancy.