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Reverie, v. 3, issue 3, whole 10, September 1940
Page 5
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Reverie 5 It is idle, in this age, to invoke either ethics or morals, but we might glean a useful hint from doctors and scientists, those supreme pragmatists. Diagnosis, then treatment; first, what is it, and then, what can we do about it. There have been many national surveys on erosion of the soil, but none on erosion of national character; there have been some exhaustive studies made to determine how to make good farmers out of bad farmers; but I do not recall any such comprehensive effort to make good citizens out of apathetic slackers, who represent about ninety per cent of our present population. It is quite true that the general improvement of the human race is an almost imperceptible cosmic process which apparently cannot be accelerated by sporadic effort; and in abstract thinking we have probably made little progress since the time of Plato. But though our moral concepts are still childish and parochial, we might at least be smart children. A stupid thief steals securities that he cannot hypothecate; a stupid nation squanders wealth and man power that it cannot afford to lose; a stupid or indifferent electorate places rogues in office who should be placed in jail. It is saddening to reflect that even puppies learn by experience not to eat the shoe polish, whereas we continue to lick the boots that kick us. Perhaps we shall need another ten thousand years, perhaps a million, in which fully to realize and act upon our higher responsibilities as human beings, but in the meantime, why act like zanies? I want to preserve my orderly life, my few comforts and liberties, but how shall I preserve them if a vast number of my fellow citizens lose theirs? I might be completely hardboiled, I might not care a damn about my fellow citizens, but
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Reverie 5 It is idle, in this age, to invoke either ethics or morals, but we might glean a useful hint from doctors and scientists, those supreme pragmatists. Diagnosis, then treatment; first, what is it, and then, what can we do about it. There have been many national surveys on erosion of the soil, but none on erosion of national character; there have been some exhaustive studies made to determine how to make good farmers out of bad farmers; but I do not recall any such comprehensive effort to make good citizens out of apathetic slackers, who represent about ninety per cent of our present population. It is quite true that the general improvement of the human race is an almost imperceptible cosmic process which apparently cannot be accelerated by sporadic effort; and in abstract thinking we have probably made little progress since the time of Plato. But though our moral concepts are still childish and parochial, we might at least be smart children. A stupid thief steals securities that he cannot hypothecate; a stupid nation squanders wealth and man power that it cannot afford to lose; a stupid or indifferent electorate places rogues in office who should be placed in jail. It is saddening to reflect that even puppies learn by experience not to eat the shoe polish, whereas we continue to lick the boots that kick us. Perhaps we shall need another ten thousand years, perhaps a million, in which fully to realize and act upon our higher responsibilities as human beings, but in the meantime, why act like zanies? I want to preserve my orderly life, my few comforts and liberties, but how shall I preserve them if a vast number of my fellow citizens lose theirs? I might be completely hardboiled, I might not care a damn about my fellow citizens, but
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