Good Things You sense a great deal of pride in the people of Costa Rica, for they have made a nation unique, not only to Central America but to all the world. They have built a history of tolerance and prosperity by taking to heart positive lessons carried with them from the old world to the new. Words they live by: Liberty, Fraternity, Equality. For many of the years following WW II, Costa Rica stood almost as an island of tranquillity in a sea of civil warfare raging around them. By 1987. Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez had seen enough. He authored a peace plan which was accepted and signed by the presidents of Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Cuba and Guatemala. All Costa Ricans were honored when, in 1987, President Arias Sanchez was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for the high standard of ethics and understanding he symbolized as a representative of the people of nation. Visitors are quick to note that the people of Costa Rica work very hard to develop the intellectual as well as the physical resources of their country. Books and newspapers are displayed everywhere, evidence that Costa Ricans have made of themselves one of the most highly literate nations on earth. No less than ninety-three percent of the people can read and write - meaning nine out of ten can feel partner to events taking place in their country and throughout the world, and can make intelligent, educated decisions regarding responsibilities to their nation and to Mother Earth. Nowhere will you find people more deeply committed to the preservation of God's natural wonders. Theirs is a small country, yet they have within their boarders no less one twentieth of the world's total biodiversity. To protect these treasures they have set aside more than one fourth of their total land area as national trust, dedicating one acre in four to parklands and wildlife refuges. The country's stability, prosperity and self-confidence pay unexpected dividends. Not the least of these: in 1948 Costa Ricans proved their confidence in the stability of their nation by abolishing their army. Instead of hiring Regiments of Infantry, they hire Platoons of Forest Rangers. "We are a free people. We will control our destiny with our votes," they are saying. "We will not create a government that controls us with soldiers and guns."