Readers; Speeches, addresses, etc., American; United States
Now, you can do a great deal in this direction. When I was a college
officer. I used to be very much opposed to hazing; not because hazing is
not wholesome, but because sophomores are poor judges. I remember a very
dear friend of mine, a professor of ethics on the other side of the
water, was asked if he thought it was ever justifiable to tell a lie. He
said Yes, he thought it was sometimes justifiable to lie; "but," he
said, "it is so difficult to judge of the justification that I usually
tell the truth." I think that ought to be the motto of the sophomore.
There are freshmen who need to be hazed, but the need is to be judged by
such nice tests that a sophomore is hardly old enough to determine them.
But the world can determine them. We are not freshmen at college, but we
are constantly hazed. I would a great deal rather be obliged to draw
pepper up my nose than to observe the hostile glances of my neighbors. I
would a great deal rather be beaten than ostracized. I would a great
deal rather endure any sort of physical hardship if I might have the
affection of my fellow men. We constantly discipline our fellow citizens
by having an opinion about them. That is the sort of discipline we ought
now to administer to everybody who is not to the very core of his heart
an American. Just have an opinion about him and let him experience the
atmospheric effects of that opinion! And I know of no body of persons
comparable to a body of ladies for creating an atmosphere of opinion! I
have myself in part yielded to the influences of that atmosphere, though
it took me a long time to determine how I was going to vote in New
Jersey.
So it has seemed to me that my privilege this afternoon was not merely
a privilege of courtesy, but the real privilege of reminding you--for I
am sure I am doing nothing more--of the great principles which we stand
associated to promote. I for my part rejoice that we belong to a country
in which the whole business of government is so difficult. We do not
take orders from anybody; it is a universal communication of conviction,
the most subtle, delicate, and difficult of processes. There is not a
single individual's opinion that is not of some consequence in making up
the grand total, and to be in this great cooperative effort is the most
stimulating thing in the world. A man standing alone may well misdoubt
his own judgment. He may mistrust his own intellectual processes; he may
even wonder if his own heart leads him right in matters of public
conduct; but if he finds his heart part of the great throb of a national
life, there can be no doubt about it. If that is his happy circumstance,
then he may know that he is part of one of the great forces of the
world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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