The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-05-07
RESPONSIBILITY OF OTHERS.

None but very selfish or very foolish
persons seek to evade that responsibility
for others which is so important an eIe-
ment in the whole structure of the
worlds life; and unwillinCness to as
sumo ones proper duties in the line of
this responsibility is direct and accG-
rate measure of the self-seekins or the
mental or moral incapacity from which
Il springs We mast be responsible for
others i'll one way or another, whether
we viii or not. Mutual privilege and
mutual duty unite in making one man
the representative of, and to IL certain
extent the substitute for, other men, no
matter what bc his station of life.
No one IS SO great as to
avoid this responsibility, which
grows heavier and heavier with the in
creasing power OF the individual upon
whom 1t falls; and on the other hand no
human being is so humble AS not tC be
responsible for the words and deeds, and
even the spiritual welfare, OF somebody
else. This world is IL social world, in
which, by Gods plain ordering, il is
simply impossible for any person TO
throw of, though he may evade or deny
his constant duty toward other persons,
"a duty which is not Il whit lessened by
the equally plain fact that mans moral
nature is seli-controlled, and that the
punishment lbl SIN lliiS upon lilS HUI
Vldual sinner, however sorely he may
have been tempted or misled by those
who ought to have stood IN Il position of
responsibility towards him.
:
In one way or another. all men are
leaders, so long as they remain among
the number of rational and independent
beings. We may be perfectly sure that
some one VIII remember our i'll con-
sIdered words; that some one will treas
ure ap the memory of our bad deeds;
that the pattern which we set, from our
most TRIVIAL act to the whole fabric of
our lives will certainly be taken as Il
model by persons who are younger or
weaker than we, or by those who, OF
stronger character than ours, are yet
willing to try TO excuse their own
shortcomings by an expressed or i'm
piled, ''he did ii, and so | will" We do
not need to go into the consideration of
the vast and vaguely defined but appal-
lingly real, domain of unconscious in
fiuence, in order to discover the fact that
no man can live unto himself If we
will but open our eyes upon the life i'm
mediately around us, if we VIII believe
the spoken and uuspoken testimony
which comes to lis, If we will remember
and apply TO our treatment of others
how much we ourselves have been in
tiuenced by those who, us leaders or ex-
cmplars have responsibility nodded our
own lives and characters, we shall not
long remain in doubt as to the extent
| and the gravity of our individual duty
in this matter.
If any one is DESTROYS of beginning to
regulate his life more strictly in its rela-
lions of responsibility for others, he may
| make wholesome commencement by
paying more rigid attention to the char
| acter of the persons whom he introduces
or conducts to the society of others. A
| mere personal introduction ought to be,
| and is held TO be by the gentleman or
gentlewoman, an act of grave social
sponsorship, in which ones own charac-
| ter is involved. Then, too, we should
| regard as a not less sacred thing the Civ
ing of letter of introduction or recon-
incubation; for Il letter has more fixed
| permanence than Il spoken word and new
| er should be given heedlessly. Persons
who would not willingly utter 81 lie, or
| steal their friends money, too often write
a fulsome faisehood. in the guise of let
| ter OF commentator, ana thereby steal
| what has vastly more than money value
the confidence and the happiness of
| him to whom the letter is sent. Far few
| CT would be the number of lost friend
! ships and of wasted influences, if we
/ more fully recognize the ever present
| duty and privilege of our personal re-
| sponsibility for others, in all its degrees,
| from the least to the greatest.-Sunday
| School Times.