The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-08-04
SAYS UNCLE CIV

No man is really a big man until he
can look leniently upon another's err
rors. Bigness is largely matter Of
noting your own mistakes and avoid
ing them in the future. To know your
own faults and to prevent them from
destroying you is one of the prime fac
tors of greatness.
Not to know your own faults IS t.
be unreliable, intolerant and small. 1t
is the little chap who. constantly in er-
ror imagines himself to be perfect,
who has no patience with the slips OF
others. To note the failures of those
about us is not a noteworthy achieve
ment. The Lttlest of us and the mean
est can put our fingers upon the flaws
of the nob1est and best. This is bus
natural and we are prone to become
so interested in detecting the short
comings of our betters that we nare
no time to ferret-out and eradicate
those which make US ourselves objects
of pity.
Moreover, it is very human to magnify
ones own failings. into virtues, 20 lay
the blame for our failures upon cir
cumstances or upon the shoulders of
others. Most of us have an ineXhaus-
tible supply of excuses. Because we
never delve deeply enough into life to
know ourselves and our defects, these
excuses satisfy us and we ina gine
that they satisfy others. They merely
make US ridiculous.
Only those who have tried and failed
and grown strong upon failure and won
in the end are capable of taking that
large view of life which begets to1er
ance of the errors of others. Bloody
sweat is a great illumination. Defeat
clarifies the atmosphere. To dare, to
suffer and to fall. to get upon ones
feet and plunge into the struggle Hgain,
marking past mistakes and from them
working out the rules for future SUE
cess, and finally to win-that is man
hood. And manhood. stripped of its
follies and made great by it's labors,
has little to do with the shortcomings
of the unfortunate.
It knows how tri1ing a thing some
times stands between success and
failure. 1t knows how the best inten-
lions go awry. 1t knows how natural
it is to err. how dearly purchased is
victory. 1t knows that sin is mostly
weakness and virtue largely strength.
1t knows that between hero and
renegade there may be but a hairs ;iif-
ference
twas this thought, expressed In terms
of religion that was in John Wesley's
mind when he saw a wretch going to
the gallows.
There said he. but for the grace
of God goes John Wesley"
There" says the really big man, see
ing the weaker whelmed in disc ster.
but for a bit of luck, burst of
inspiration, or a combination of cir
cumstances which I turned to my use
in time goes myself"
Life's too short to worry about the
mistakes of the other fellow. It's too
short to waste time denouncing them
If you're the size of a grasshopper
you've got better business than point
ing out the mote in your neighbours
eye. Remove the beam from your own
and you'll get a better idea of your
relative value in the world, after which
you'll humbly hope that nobody is
studying your own faults.
By the time you have reached the
point where you'd really be missed if
you had to pass hence, you'll realize
that you are near kin to the beggar
and brother to the ne'er-do-well. You'u
be so thoroughly grateful that your
own mistakes didn't get you down
that you'll have nothing but sympathy
for the chap whose foot did slpi at the
wrong time. No man is really big I'M
til he can look Ieniently upon the errors
of acknowledgements 1913 by the Nc
Clure Newspaper Syndicate)