to Mr. President Barack Obama

Governing a large country is like frying small fish.
Too much poking spoils the meat.

When the * is used to govern the world
then evil will lose its power to harm the people.
Not that evil will no longer exist,
but only because it has lost its power.
Just as evil can lose its ability to harm,
the Master shuns the use of violence.
If you give evil nothing to oppose,
then virtue will return by itself.

*tao

translation of the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu by j.h.mcdonald, 1996