Norwich bulletin., 1917-05-19
Sunday Morning Talk
TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING.

A recent apologist for Germany con- tends that the Teuton's offense against the world springs mainly from his ex- aggerated emphasis upon the impor- tance of his own virtues He believes in "Kultur" so thoroughly that he yearns to bestow it on everybody He is only anxious to have all peoples on. the planet efficient IS he is himself
 We grasp the point Of the contention. even though the benevolence Of Kaiser dom so fee.ingly referred to has thus far escaped our notice We believe that Germany has taken a potentially good thing and through distorted per spective and reckless practice made 1t an essentially bad thing. Efficiency is an unquestioned blessing to any indi- vidual or people but when it crushes out every fine spiritual instinct, when 1t ignores the rights and peculiar genius of all one's' neighbors, 1t be- comes a pestiferous curse. The rest of the world has no objection to 'kultur;'' the more of 1t the better. But when kultur is spelled With a big K and forced upon us all with torpedoes and chlorine gas, the word is bound to re- sist to the very best of it's ability.
 It is a eommonpIaee of philosophy that the good thing may not always be good. It becomes bad when it is em- ployed unreasonably or without rela- ton to some worthy end Whatever retards or obscures the main moral purpose or llI6 Is DdQ, however lnIO- cent it may appear on the surface.
 A good thing must be good under the given conditions to merit its title. Sometimes a bright, sunshiny day is a shined week after week with never a cloud in the sky. and the ground parches and the flowers droop and the grass withers and dust fills the air, the sunshiny day is bad weather. We tire of the sunshine and long for rain. We " thing.
 No one can have too large measure of the great spiritual gifts and graces of life, but there are virtues the ex- cidental with which he may easily be overstocked. 'Let not your good be evil spoken of." warns the Apostle Paul, and has in mind our exaggera- tions and perversions of potentially good things. It is surely a tragic mis- take when a possible virtue deterior ates into a fault because of our care less usage.
 Silence is golden, but to cultivate morose, uncommunicdtive habit of life is to debase gold to clay. Self esteem is commendajble, in so far as it leads to proper ambition and earnest striv- ing, but, overdeveloped. 1t soaks the earth with blood and tears. The will to be harmless is excellent but if 1t reduces men to nonentities and makes them willing to pass through life only as "harmlesS'' individuals, it Is a pitt full mistake. To be able to say of a human being only that he is harmless is very near to condemnation. l, Precisely the same external act may be good for one person and bad for another. Said little boy at the cir GUS: Pa pa, are peanuts good to eat?' ''Yes. my son. was the reply, "they are, but not good for you to eat" President Hyde of Bowdoin, a disciple of Aristotle has given an illustration of the same truth. Political offfce for l a man who has solved his own prob l lem, and has time, strength, energy and l ca opacity with which to solve the prob l lems of the public. is the very gateway l of heaven. To the ofi1ce seeker who Is l aiming to get out of the public a liv- | ing which he is too lazy or incornpe- tent to earn in private employment, l this same office becomes the broad | and easy descent into hell"
 When we try to estimate the good l ness or the badness of a. thing, let us | examine it's relation to the main end | of life. Does 1t conduce to our own | neighbor? Will it make someone else l happier or better, or simply gratify l our own pride and selfish desires | Such tests as these are the ultimate l ones. Only by making them can we be 1 sure that our good be not evil spoken 1 Of" represent a curse instead of a | to men in this life, and stand | on the books against us at last before | the judgment bar of God.
 THE FARsoN. l