The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-06-01
Desire and DUTY.

| Desire and Duty.
There is no more fallicious and injur.
| ious notion than that which puts desire
and duty in continual conflict. To i'm.
! agine as some appear to do, that tina,
which is pleasant is usually wrong, an6
what Is right is generally disagreeable
| is both incorrect in fact and unethica
in it's influence. The large majority O.
human desires are necessary for self
preservation, conducive Of perIaansnal i'm
provement and subservient to social vel.
fare, and the sooner this is fully real.
lied and openly admitted the more speed
ly and complete will be the reconciliation
between those which are really at var
| lance.
a.. Take, for example, the simple act OF
eating. Primarily. it is done to satisfy
| hunger. The desire for food is gratifed
without any thought of duty in the mat
| ter. Yet every intelligent person recog-
| nizes his dependence on food for his
health, power, value, and even for his
continued existence. Thus to crafty
this desire in it's simple form is an OBJ
legation which we are bound to fulfill.
So with sleep, warmth, shelter and bod
lily comfort in general. Within certain
limits these natural desires correspond
with the duties of self~preservation and
self-development. What these limits are
our Intelligence and experience must dis
cover. A taste for improper food at I'M
proper seasons may be generated, injur-
ing the health and depicting the powers.
Too much sleep dulls the energies; ex-
cessive ease and comfort interfere with
activity, and other indulgences prove
hurtful in various ways. Then, of course
the sense of duty demands that such
cravings be subdued; yet not from any
inherent good in self denial, nor any in
trinsic conflict between duty and de-
sire. .~ ~.
Neither are our duties to our fellow
men divorced from our desires. Love
compassion, sympathy, good will, are al:
instructive emotions, leading us to wish
for happiness of others, and to that de-
gree to plan for it,, and to act in such
way as to produce and increase it. There
is no conflict between duty which a
mother owes to her helpless infant and
the desire which she so strongly feels
for it's welfare. She does not wait t.
consider her obligations, but at once
springs to protect and nourish it in the
very best way she knows or can learn.
This is, indeed, the nearest approach
70 a perfect relationship which human
nature affords; yet it is one where the de-
sire is the prime motive power The in
dignation we feel at cruelty, oppression:
and injustice, and the anxiety to relieve
suffering, the hopes we cherish for bet
ter conditions, for wider education, for
higher social welfare, and the multitude
nous efforts which spring from these
feelings, all show how large is the area
within which our desires and duties cor
respond. Not to curtail, but to enlarge
this area, should be our constant aim.
1t is plain to every rejecting person
that the higher the stand that is occupied
in true civilization, in firm principle and
noble living, the more fully will desire
and duty harmonize. 1t is indeed the
crown and perfection of any virtue that
is practiced for it's own sake and for the
love. of it. There are many upward
steps, each of which is worthy of honor
the struggle to resist temptation, the
stern resolve, the firm persistence, the
brave self-denial, the conscientious per-
Torrance; but when they are faithfully
and continuously taken they lead up tt
and merge into still higher and love
lier condition, that of the natural and
glad practice of what was once a hard
painful, and grievous duty. That this
is so in many instances affords the
gretsesr encouragement that itmay even.
TIVE, JNnNk oy1N@ oil Il y
duty were in perpetual conflict there
could be no hope of moral progress; bu,
as it is we have every Indictment to edu-
cate and uplift our desires until they are
all ardently engaged in the service of the.
right; the good and true, so far as our
powers are able to discover. This is no
vague or obscure process, as some may
think. It is true that we cannot by a.
single effort of the will change desire
of the heart Yet we can bring each one
to single test; we can easily discover
whether it corresponds with our owE
convictions of what is right and good
and as it stands this ordeal, or sinks I'M
der it, we can indulge or deny it in OH
lives and conduct. OF course this in
wolves much self-sacrif1ce, but it is only
the sacrifice of the lower to the higher
self, and in SO doing the desire will not be
crushed or extinguished, but uplifted ant,
purified. Herbert Spencer, in describ-
ing the state in which a true and wise
egotism and altruism will ultimately
combine in harmony says: Ear off al
seems such a state, yet every one of the
factors counted on to produce it may al
ready be traced in operation among those
of higher natures. What now in them is
occasional and feeble may be expected
with further evolution, to become. hab-
itual and strong; and what now char
acterizes the exceptionally high may be
eventually to characterize all
For that which the best human nature
is capable of is within the reach Of hui
man nature at large"
Oscar Wilde received a sentence OF two
years with hard labor for his offensive
deeds: We are very sorry that the son Of
Lady Wilde, the patriotic .'Sper OF
IS. has. broiiell AZ sorrow upon such 4 mol
bIempther.