The Stuff of Manhood: Some Needed Notes in American CharacterSpeer, Robert E. (Robert Elliott)
Philosophy
The Stuff of Manhood: Some Needed Notes in American Character
Speer, Robert E. (Robert Elliott)
Character; Christian life; Conduct of life; Moral education
And we all know that power is to be won here in this school where men
are trained both to feel and to wield dominion. There is no power in
the world that is not power cabined, power held in some way. Loose
power is imperceptible and utterly useless. The only power we know is
power walled in, shut down, confined and beating against its barriers
and its walls. We know this in the athletic life of our colleges
to-day. No athletic trainer in any college ever followed David’s method
with Adonijah. The trainer is there to say: “Why did you do it that
way?” “Why did you not do it this way? You have no right to waste your
energy in that way. You must do it so.” There is one scene in _Quo
Vadis_ that redeems much else in the book. It is the scene in the
Coliseum, when the giant Gothic slave is shown saving the life of his
mistress, whom he loved. The great bull has come out with the girl’s
form tied to his horns, and there is dead silence as the bull stands
angrily facing the man. You remember the picture. As Ursus lays one
hand on each horn of the auroch the struggle begins. There is not a
sound. The great multitude watches the man’s muscles rise and harden
and the sweat come out and drop from every pore. They see his feet
sinking down in the arena, until the sand is above his ankles. Suddenly
the great head of the bull begins to twist under that awful strength.
Then the neck breaks and the giant lifts the limp form from the beast’s
neck and stands with the burden in his hands before the Emperor. One
likes to read such a picture of power secured by self-discipline. Do we
want to go out limp and beaten and ineffective in our lives against the
great mass of work in the world that waits to be done? Or do we want to
go in the strength of Him Who, having bent beneath His Father’s will,
was able to carry on the Cross the whole burden of human sin?
And we must learn in this school the things we value and desire most:
purity and delicacy and refinement of character, for they cannot be
acquired elsewhere. So much social standing nowadays is uttered in
terms of self-assertion and indulgence and the ability to have any whim
or caprice gratified. This sort of self-assertion, this caprice, is
regarded by many of us as the highest mark of social authority, whereas
we know it is precisely the opposite, that it is self-restraint and
self-control and self-surrender that mark the finest lives.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account