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Smith, Francis N., May 1, 1948
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| Revision as of Apr 6, 2015 12:38:23 PM created by 204.73.55.132 |
Revision as of Apr 6, 2015 12:40:47 PM edited by 204.73.55.132 |
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I remember writing an essay a good many years ago in which the following passage occurred: "Civilization has been founded upon too small a base and has grown upwardt and outward with such astounding vel-ocity that it now resembles an inverted pyramid. A pyramid that totters dangerously and threatens to come down upon the heads of all of us. | I remember writing an essay a good many years ago in which the following passage occurred: "Civilization has been founded upon too small a base and has grown upwardt and outward with such astounding vel-ocity that it now resembles an inverted pyramid. A pyramid that totters dangerously and threatens to come down upon the heads of all of us. | ||
| − | That base was competitive individualism. Had it been co-oper-ative instead, our material progress would have been much slower but it would have been much, much safer and surer. And our spiritual growth would have been immeasurably ahead of what it is today. if our civiliz-ation survives, it will be because you have finally learned that lesson. ,e ordinary folk look to you to study the possibilities of imrroving the individual as well as the society in which he moves. Through education, through heredity and even through the mechanical workings of the hormones within our bodies. | + | That base was competitive individualism. Had it been co-oper-ative instead, our material progress would have been much slower but it would have been much, much safer and surer. And our spiritual growth would have been immeasurably ahead of what it is today. if our civiliz-ation survives, it will be because you have finally learned that lesson. ,e ordinary folk look to you to study the possibilities of imrroving the individual as well as the society in which he moves. Through education, through heredity and even through the mechanical workings of the hormones within our bodies. |
Leave no avenue unopened. | Leave no avenue unopened. | ||
Rapt, tragic Man who plunges | Rapt, tragic Man who plunges | ||
| − | + | Through universal law; | |
Who no "Don't' s" and "Can't's" expunges -, | Who no "Don't' s" and "Can't's" expunges -, | ||
| − | + | Where are you headed for? | |
Pause in your fevered labor, | Pause in your fevered labor, | ||
| − | + | Stop on your siren career, | |
| − | + | Think of yourself and neighbor: | |
| − | + | You both are forgotten here. | |
| − | + | It will take vision to do it? | |
Of course, and there still is time | Of course, and there still is time | ||
But make a beginning or rue it: | But make a beginning or rue it: | ||
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We build anew... we plan. | We build anew... we plan. | ||
And we run through a scale which ranges | And we run through a scale which ranges | ||
| − | + | From the atom up to Man. | |
We optimists are pretty scared. Put we're still optimists. And we're hoping that you fellows will finally put your weight into the balance and in some measure at least, tip the scales toward that forcast. | We optimists are pretty scared. Put we're still optimists. And we're hoping that you fellows will finally put your weight into the balance and in some measure at least, tip the scales toward that forcast. | ||