The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1897-12-04
EXCESSIVE INDEPENDENCE.
There Can He such Thing ss Toe
Much self-ReIiance.


Under such various names as pride.
self-respect. self-reliance and obstinacy.
the vice Of excessive independence
makes a good deal OF trouble in this
world. IL is the fault, or misfortune,
OF strong natures. The self-made man.
and the self-made woman are equally
liable TO it's attacks. The symptoms are
not by any means uniform. Sometimes
they manifest themselves in self-asser-
ton, sometimes H. self-depreciation.
Sometimes the too independent man Is
rude. sometimes he is extremely cour-
teous. His independence may make
him selfish. or IL may make him too UNI
selfish for his own good. An unwilling
ness 20 receive aid OF any sort from
others may be accompanied by a re-
luctance TO help anybody else; but per-
haps more often II appears in men who
are so good TO their friends that one
wonders why they are so hard on them
selves.
The independent man proceeds on,
the assumption that il is better TO walk
mile than 10 ask a neighbor TO take
three steps. lie will deny himself
pleasure because he is not sure that he
will be able 10 return il In kind. He lies
awake nights II circumstances have
forced him TO let another man pay his
car fare. Holiday gifts he receives
with but poor grace IL they possess in
trinsic value. Behind his formal thanks
is plainly TO be seen an almost pathetic
resentment against the well-meant In
- T.. II.
plainly than words could express Il,
his bearing towards the world says:
please allow me TO pay my own bills,
which l feel quite competent 10 do"
The pity OF II Is that such men ara
not more than ordinarily free from
the defects Of frail humanity, and need
TO have their wants supplied by that re-
ciprocal interchange OF kindly service
that raises society TO the cheerful levels
OF n normal life. In attempting 70 set
themselves off in fortress with draw
bridge and moat, 20 be crossed only on
business with the proprietor, they iso-
late themselves not merely from the an
noyance OF receiving, but from the
pleasure OF giving. Their friends soon
tire of forcing passage TO n spot so
inaccessible as the heart OF hermit.
AS life moves on that heart by all laws
OF life must begin 20 wither. Kindly
feeling cannot forever resist the chilly
blasts that presage the winter Of a soli-
tary world. When the self-made man
grows old he learns with sharp regret
that III he has made nothing but him
self he has done pretty poor job; and
one that viii not long outlast the
age of active participation In the world
towards which he has been, not hostile.
but scrupulously neutral He that
worshiped his independence must now
worship either himself or nothing.
The extreme case thus pictured Is not.
perhaps, so common as 20 need criti-
cism. But the germs Of this unhappy
growth are seldom absent from vigor-
Gus characters. We need 10 study the
art OF receiving. Here logic will be OF
small avail. II is easy to prove that in
dependence is unreasonable and fool
ish; that nearly al our ability and
our learning, and all our religion, must
in the nature OF things come TO us with
out the possibility OF recompense. But
IL Is not so easy to break the fixed habit
OF self-defense, and show once more
kindly front towards the uncalculat-
ing and lavish givers OF earth and
Heaven. Humiliating and distressing
II will sometimes be to allow others
to do for us that which we need. A
hard lesson TO learn, one that can be
learned well only by following a high
model, is that such humiliation and
distress is salutary discipline, not a
sign OF superior moral fiber. Beyond
n certain point independence is a cult
waited and disguised form Of selflshnessl
Jesus Christ, who had n right TO show,
Himself independent n ever man had.
found continuing and increasing joy
in the humble ministrations OF those
who loved Him best.-Chicago Stand
ard