The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-11-30

PERIL OF MISUSED STRENGTH.
And Samson said. Let me die with the
all his might, and the house fell upon
the lords. and upon all the people that
at his death were more than they which
he slew in his life.-Judges 1880.
The noise of cracking pillars and
crashing walls has filled the world of
late. even as in Samson's time. because
men of might have perverted their
power. Because the strong have mis-
used their strength, ruthlessly crush
ing whatever hindered their mad
struggles for wealth and power, the
whole continent has manifested an
ominous reaction. As Shakespeare
says,
"Oh, 1t is excellent
To have a giants strength; but it is
tyrannous
To use 1t like a giant
There be many who would relate
the old story of Samson to the
nursery; but the need for his life mes
sage was never more acute than today.
He is one of those characters whose
usefulness consists in serving as
warning to his race. Samson is great
in literature as a horrible example. He
represents the strong gone wrong. A
man of ascetic VOWS. who should have
been a spiritual leader, he became a
buffoon. a player of boys pranks, a
Eighty cracker of jokes, a sensual
voluptuary. disregard1ng his primary
obligations of patriotism and piety.
The public speaker who tickles
mems ears when he ought to stir their
hearts; the young men who are addle-
pated patrons of pleasure when they
ought to be assuming the dignities and
responsibilities of real manhood; the
idle, favored classes who regard the
world as a toy, rather than as a tool;
the children of noble parents. and in
heritors of sacred vows, who render no
honor to their forbears because they
give no service to- their time; the ir-
responsible rich who think that the
public is merely mine to be ruthless
ly exploited; the politician who is
patching his own district fences when
he should be a statesman serving the
nation; the educated. prosperous and
respectable" m@ who stoop to
sensual pleasures-all these are pres
ent-day examples of Samsons who
have made themselves objects of scorn
and contempt, instead of being objects
of honor and affection.
Samson was long on hair. but short
on head. He had more muscle than
manliness. He was a good fellow
but a bad man. Strong in sinew, he
was weak in will. A private vengeance
melted him more intensely than a
public service. His lack of dignity
was not the wise mans unbending. but
the FOOLS lack of sense of fitness.
The mightiest man of his day, he lent
his strength to the playing of childish
pranks. and finally permitted it to de-
part through him at the hands of
woman. Is it any wonder that he
seems to have had many boon COM
panions but no real friends. and that
he is the one caricature in the whole |
gallery of Scriptural characters?
With all the force of tremendous re-
cent events behind it, the teaching of
life should be driven home |
that "noblesse oblige" privilege carries |
power creates duties. They |
hat are strong" said the Great Teach !
er, fought to bear the infirmities of |
he weak, and not to please them !
Selves" This western world, above all |
other lands, needs to be told, in pro- !
ohet tones, that power, be it financial |
power, political power. intellectual
power, social power, or the power of
position, may honorably be employed |
,nIy for high and altrustic ends. This |
s the truth which has given vitality |
IND force to the ominous socialistic pro- |
oaganda of the day. Deep in his heart,
he common man feels the injustice of |
he possession of vast power by COM
,arative few, who use their power with
10 sense of stewardship, social service
IT patriotic duty.
The Philistines who fell beneath the
'uins of festal hall which Samson
wrecked had scorned and despised their
prisoner. They thought themselves
afe, and him helpless. One need not
,e considered an alarmist to say that
heir case is a monition to our own
lines.