Love, then, is this tender feeling made purposive and
intelligent. It is a sentiment, in Shand's phrase, and seeks the
good of its object. It may be narrow, it may be broad, it may be
intense or feeble, but in its organized sense it plans, fights
and cherishes. It has organized with it the primary
emotions,--fear if the object is in danger, or anger is evoked
according to the circumstances; joy if the object of love is
enhanced or prospers; sorrow if it is lost or injured under
circumstances that make the lover helpless. Love is not only the
tenderest feeling, but it is also the most heroic and desperate
fighter in behalf of the loved one. Here we are face to face with
the contradictions that we always meet when we personify a
quality or make an abstraction. Love may do the most hateful
things; love may stunt, the character of the lover and the
beloved. In other words, love, tender feeling, must be conjoined
with intelligence, good judgment, determination and fairness
before it is useful. It would be a nice question to determine
just how much harm misguided love has done.
What is pity? Though objects of love always elicit pity, when
helpless or injured, objects of pity are not necessarily objects
of love. In fact, we may pity through contempt. Objective pity is
a type of tender feeling in which there is little or no
self-feeling. We do not extend the ego to the piteous object. We
desire to help, even though the object of pity is an enemy or
disgusting. One of the commonest struggles of life is that
between self-interest and pity,--and the selfish resent any
situation that arouses their pity, because they dislike to give.
Pity tends to disappear from the life of the soldier and is,
indeed, a trait he does not need; in the lives of the strong and
successful, pity is apt to be a hindering quality. In a world in
which competition is keen, the cooperative gentle qualities
hinder success. The weak seek the pity of others; they need it;
and the pity-seeker is a very distinct type. The strong and proud
hate to be pitied, and when wounded they hide, shun their friends
and keep the semblance of strength with a brave face. Pity
directed toward oneself as the object is self-pity,--a quality
found in children and in a certain amiable, weak, egoistic type,
whose eyes are always full of tears as they talk of themselves.
Of course, at times, we are all prone to this vice of character,
but there are some chronically afflicted.
Certain so-called sentimentalists are those who die, tribute
their pity in an erratic fashion. These are the vegetarians who
are sad because it is wrong to kill for food; yet they wear
without compunction the leather of cattle who have neither
committed suicide nor died of old age. And the
anti-vivisectionists view without any stir of pity the children
of the slums and the sick of all kinds. Pity raises man to the
divine but, like all the gentle qualities, it needs guidance by
reason and common sense before it is of any value.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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