Perth Amboy evening news., 1919-02-08
LEST WE FORGET
BY WILLIAM H. BAwDEN
BY William II. Bawden.
REING TT

Every n of US seems to have in
herited the tendency to throw upon
others the blame for that for which
We ourselves are responsible. This Is
a tendency hat does not seem to have
lessened n whit since noticeable in
our first parent who, when accused of
having partaken Of the forbidden
fruit, promptly and vigorously passed
on the onus of the affair to his far
and dear companion in life, who as
promptly and vigorously passed 1t on
TO somebody olse. Now, this vas un-
gentlemanly, TO say the least, is quite
reprehensible, and usually does not at
all tighten u punishment when the
blow finally falls where 1t belongs.
One Of the foremost teachings of
the great race teacher is directed
against this tendency. For He re-
minded men that before any one of
them should attempt to pick a speck
= out of the eye of another. he should
take out Of his own eye that great
mass of dirt hat was so hindering his
own vision. How can any man be
certain hat his neighbor ia to blame
for any given action, when his own
participation therein distorts his own
vision and incapacitates him to sit in
judgment7 Very often is IL that we
magnify the fault of another out of
all proportion to his deserts, doing so
to such an extent that We are unable
to see another wrong, equally grave,
in ourselves. How easy it was for the
men to exclaim vehemently against the
poor, unfortunate woman taken In
adultery; how hard it was for them
to perceive that anything at all was
wrong with them.
There is that interesting story told
of the royal sinner who, like the re-
cent Kaiser. thought that, because he
was the king, he could do Is he
pleased. So when he saw a. attractive
woman he invited her to visit him, al
though he knew that she was the wife
of one of his officers. Royal favors are
hard 20 resist, so she yielded. When
it was impossible longer to keep the
affair secret, the king caused the
murder of his faithful officer. tool the
woman as his wife. and considered the
matter closed. But not SO; one Of
those stern moralists of the age, who
by their preaching are forever up
setting the calculations Of evil men.
He called at the court, told a cock
and-bull story that excited the SYM
pathy and ELECTED the wrath OF the
monarch TOWARD a supposed sinner
and then told the old boy to apply the
story to himself as the man in the
case.
Evil has n way Of working up to
the surface of life. 1t may be long
hidden. its fruits perhaps, not COM
ing to light in time for punishment TO
be melted out in this world. But our
evil deeds follow us into the world to
come just as surely as our good deeds
precede US there. So that we may be
sure of our own chickens coming home
to roost at last. Evidently denial is
in vain, not to say unmanly; while
shifting the blame to another is one of
the worst forms of meanness. Each
n of us Is put in a garden of his own,
to dress and keep it, and in Zach gar
den stands the tree OF the knowledge
of good and evil. OF the fruit of this
tree every n of us has been forbid
den to eat When we disobey and eat,
whatever else We may learn We feel
the weight of our -disobedience, which
is sin! nor is 1t OF any avail Ior us .
try to evade the penalty by INVOLVES
somebody else. A man VINO ls[Enilty
of doing wrong is- certainty ut" He
should shoulder his own responsibility
and bear his own punishment.