The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-07-12
THE HUMAN PARASITE.
BY oRIsoN SWEET MARDEN

4 parasite is the lowest form of veGe-
table or animal life. In botany it -
described as "a plant growing upon
| and nourished by the juices of another
In zoology it is IAN animal which lives
on another"
II you are living in idleness, il you
are being carried through the world by
others when you are able to carry your
self then YOU are not a real man or
real woman. You are nothing but a
mere animal. a human parasite. You
are a dwarfed being. self-robbed of your
divine heritage. that power which is de-
veloped only by self-heip, the exercise
of ones faculties. You will go to the
grave a nobody. compared with the
scrubwoman who performs an honest
days work and supports a family in de-
cency. You are A hanser-on. getting
all the good things of the world. living IN
| luxury. without earning anything. This
is absolutely dishonest.
1t is only by self-help that We can grow,
that we can feel our lives expand. 1t Is
only by actually achieving. producing
something worth while, creating some
thing that we can ever be genuinely hap
Ply. You may take a little pleasure In
spending what others have earned for
you. but there is no growth in it, there
is no life enlargement. soul expansion.
When We are cursed with arrested devel-
opuent from mental inertia or laziness,
or by anything but compulsion through
physical intirmity, death has actually
taken hold Of US; deterioration has be-
gun.
There is no glow of satisfaction
which comes to a human being like
that which is produced by stretching
the mind over. our life problems and
solving them ourselves instead of hav
ing some one else solve them Tor US.
The consciousness that we are doing
something in the world worth while,
that We are taking our places like
! real men and real women. is the only
thing that makes life worth living.
We may manage to get through the
world without helping ourselves. with
out doing anything for others. hut we
can't manage to do this and be real
man or real woman. We can't man
age to shirk our part of the worlds
work, when we are perfectly able to
do il. and be anything but a dwarf. a
Scrub oak of a human being: we can't
/ do il and be happy.
There is nothing else that so strikes
at the root OF character as the con-
seriousness that one is A parasite. To
be carried through life by somebody
else. TO be fed. clothed and taken care
of as a child, is demoralizing to ones
self-respect Worse than that. it leads
to deGeneraCy. The idle. vicious mind
is the unoccupied mind.
You must know that your Creator
never IA shioned you with such marVei-
Gus possibilities. such a wonderful
mind. such capacity for work with
out some mighty purpose back of you.
To be sponge. a hanger-on. a spend
er. but not a producer is the most de-
Spjcable role any human being can
fill. You were placed here to. form a
link in the great universal plan. You
were sent to this earth in order to
carry out your part in the co-opera-
tive plan of the Creator. What are
you doing toward this? You make a
mistake if you think you have right
to spend your life as you will. 1t is
your business TO try to find out what
YOU were sent here TO do and to do
it without delay.
Are you not ashamed 70 he an i9ler,
"a court Jester when AIml Ehty God
called YOU TO he prime minister"
tCory;isht leI5D