Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, November 1899: Volume LVI, No. 1Various
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, November 1899: Volume LVI, No. 1
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
Why a society organized upon the individualistic instead of the
socialistic basis will realize every achievement admits of easy
explanation. A man dependent upon himself is forced by the struggle
for existence to exercise every faculty he possesses or can possibly
develop to save himself and his progeny from extinction. Under
such pitiless and irresistible pressure he acquires the highest
physical and intellectual strength. Thus equipped with weapons
absolutely indispensable in any state of society, whether civilized
or uncivilized, he is prepared for the conquest of the world. He
gains also the physical and moral courage needful to cope with the
difficulties that terrify and paralyze the people that have not been
subjected to the same rigid discipline. Energetic and self-reliant, he
assails them with no thought of failure. If, however, he meets with
reverses, he renews the attack, and repeats it until success finally
comes to reward his efforts. Such prolonged struggles give steadiness
and solidity to his character that do not permit him to abandon himself
to trifles or to yield easily, if at all, to excitement and panic. He
never falls a victim to Reigns of Terror. The more trying the times,
the more self-possessed, clear-headed, and capable of grappling with
the situation he becomes, and soon rises superior to it. With every
triumph over difficulties there never fails to come the joy that
more than balances the pain and suffering endured. But the pain and
suffering are as precious as the joy of triumph. Indelibly registered
in the nervous system, they enable their victim to feel as others feel
passing through the same experience, and this fellow-feeling prompts
him to render them the assistance they may need. In this way be becomes
a philanthropist. Possessed of the abundant means that the success of
his enterprises has placed in his hands, he is in a position to help
them to a degree not within the reach nor the desires of the member of
the society organized upon the socialistic basis.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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