Thirty spokes share the wheel’s hub;
It is the center hole that makes it useful.
Shape clay into a vessel;
It is the space within that makes it useful.
Cut doors and windows for a room;
It is the holes which make it useful.
Therefore profit comes from what is there;
Usefulness from what is not there.

When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money.

But must we learn this lesson? For our children and grandchildren’s sake, I hope not.