The "Key to Understanding the World" (video)

While I am certain that I have personally viewed this video rendition of Leonard Read's 1958 classic essay I, Pencil  dozens of times over the past 6 years, I find myself as awestruck today as I was during my first viewing, and as I was when I first read the essay umpteen years ago.

As politicians fuss over the locations of the final stage production facilities of the manufactured goods that meander their way through the world's borders, you and I should keep in mind that absolutely none of it, not a single car, not an airplane, not even a pencil could ever come into being within the confines of any one country. 

To merely live the lives they've grown accustomed to, let alone to take advantage of the amazing advancements to come, the world's humans need access to the world's humans, as well as its other natural resources.

"I, Pencil, simple though I appear to be, merit your wonder and awe, a claim I shall attempt to prove. In fact, if you can understand me—no, that's too much to ask of anyone—if you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing. I have a profound lesson to teach. And I can teach this lesson better than can an automobile or an airplane or a mechanical dishwasher because—well, because I am seemingly so simple."