The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1915-06-19
TO EACH HIS TASK
His Own Life to Live, His Own Task
to Do, His Own Message to Speak.

There is one point in which all men
are alike, and that is that they are
different. There is one quality which
is everywhere present in human life,
and that is the quality of inequality.
Human lives are infinitely different,
presenting an endless series of pat
terms. 1t is true that human life is a
unity, but it is equally true that each
person is unlike every other.
There are elements in human life
that are simple and universal, but the
form these elements will assume in
duces like!" so declares a law of biol
ogy. But that state is generally but
not precisely true. No matter how
fully and thoroughly you may know
the parents, it is never quite possible
to predict the exact characteristics
of the progeny. The new life is a
fresh combination of two series of per-
sonal forces. Just what combination
of these two groups of forces the new
life will express no one can accurately
p%rophesy. That is the truth there is
in Oscar Wilde's admonition that peo-
pie should not be treated as the rule
but all of them as exceptions.
Each Man a New Creation.
GAS like as two peas" we say of
the baby twins. But more careful
scrutiny makes it evident that both
peas and babies differ in many partic-
ulars. Jacob and Esau were twins,
but they were unlike. God, it would
seem, has gone to infinite pains to
make the difference between human
beings not as few but as many as pos
sible. The Heavenly Father is fond
of variation.
Each child of God is unique, or as
Emerson said: each man is a new
creation" Each mar is a world in
himself. Each mar has his own fla
vor, temper, capacity and abilities.
Mysterious walls fend him from his
nearest, dearest, friend. Gateless
barriers divide individual from indi-
vidual. We each constitute a separate
little world. Each one is distinct in
himself.
"To thine own self be true" urges
a great poet. That exhortation does
not bid US to be aggressively singu-
lar or pugnaciously peculiar. 1t COM
mands us to ~reverently believe in our
own worth and ~uniqueness. 1t ~enjoins
US to respect and to unfold. all the
powers of our own individuality.
What God wants and the world needs
is not mimic greatness, but simple
reality. God desires us not to slav-
ishly initiate but to ever strive to be
our own real best selves.
Special Plan for Every Life.
And growing a self is a task which
no one can do for US. Our friends do
cheer and comfort and inspire and
fertilize US to a large degree. But
between even the nearest and dearest
friends there are these unscalable
walls of individuality. Each one has his
own life to live, his own potential
ties to unfold, his own task to do,
and his W message to speak. And
God would have each one of US grasp
the handle of his own being, and be
and do the very definite thing he has
in mind for us to become and to ac-
complish.
God has a special plan for every
life. So Horace Bushnell taught US
many years go. You are you and
l am l. You have your own per-
sonality to make full and deep and
rich. And | have my own peculiar
work to do. l can't live your life,
and you can't do my work. We are
face to face with the wonderful mir
acle of individuality; the miracle that
Tennyson described as the miracle
that thou art thou"
We are not like homogeneous drops
in a great ocean of life; we are not
like uniform sparks in an immense
fire of energy; we IRE individuals who
will ever retain our identity.