The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-01-01
MAKE A RESOLUTTONEVEN
IF YOU DON'T KEEP 1T

From, time immemorial it has been the custom to make New
Year resolutions. Dating back to the same time it has been
customary to break them.
The jokesmiths have made great sport of the New Year
resolution, and many persons who otherwise might be con
strained to make a profitable resolve have deferred it because
they doubted their strength to withstand temptation, and thereby
exaggerated their weakness.
The custom of making resolutions should not be abandoned.
The person who resolves to do a good turn is more likely to do
it than the person who makes no resolution. The person who
makes a resolution and breaks it is stronger than if he had
lacked the courage to make it. Each succeeding resolution leaves
6 person stronger than he was when he made the first one.
There is good to be gotten out OF a resolve, even though
1T never materializes, and there is no end of satisfaction in the
resolution that is observed,
A good resolution inspires respect in one for himself He
might have thought he lacked sympathy or sentiment, or that
he had grown crusty and unsympathetic. The resolution is likely
TO reveal a lot of unsupported good that a man sometimes torgets
that he possesses.
A resolution is a potential performance. The act Of making
1t is evidence that the thing can be done, The man who says
no more than Il resolve to be honest will find that he has set
up a barrier that he must first tear down before he can take
advantage Of his ~neighbor, 1t will rise before his eyes as an
intangible obstacle to every unworthy suggestion OF advantage.
The woman who says, 81 will repeat no unkind thing OF my
%neghbor," may not attain to perfection by a single bound, but
the resolution once made will bride many a %thoughtless tongue
that meant no harm, but carried with it a sting that time might
not erase from the reputation of some indiscreet but innocent
character.
This is a good time to make a resolution, The world is
launching into a new era. This country is marking a new course
in national affairs. We have launched into an %uncharted sea,
and there is no chart or compass so reliable as the simple
resolve to be just and exact justice.
There is comfort and satisfaction in meditation along these
lines. The man who will do it will find he is better than he
thought he was, and he will reveal it mconsciously to those
with whom he comes in contact, He will be a little gentler,
if nothing else, a little more sympathetic with the fralties of
Others, perhaps; maybe he will see some good where before he
found only fault, and the world will, after all, be a more cheer
full place in which to live.
About the only differences that ever arise between men are
points of view. On. is as likely to be right as the other, if both
have the same moral foundations. If both are obstinate they can
never come to agreement, but if one is reasonable the other
may be made to approach the issue from the proper point of
view,
1t would be we'll for each one to resolve to work harder
this wear than ever before; to give more to the things that are
worthy, and strive harder to lay a little something by. Con
tentnent rests upon prosperity, and prosperity is largely within
the grasp of the man who makes opportunity,
If there are a lot of worthy resolutions and a lot more OF
serious deliberations upon the theme of being ones brother
keeper, the close of the year will find a better situation, and
everyone who takes the trouble to make the resolutions will
have a happier year. Make the resolution if you think you will
break it. Make it to show that you have that much mora
stamina. 1t is worth it.