Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-06-07

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for that which he would depict on
canvas or stone. If his model be
| disproportioned or grotesque, his
finished work will correspond. And
so it is with the carving and paint
ing of our characters and careers:
it will depend upon the model of
greatness we are to set before us.
Now, what is the highest model
of greatness? Is it pre-eminence
in honor position, office, power, on
| is it not rather pre- -emience in use
! fulness and service? For that is
| the model of greatness which Christ
introduced among men and which
| ever since has been steadily dis
| placing those false models of a
pagan and ancient world. Augustus
Caesar, the worlds greatest auto
crat! Jesus Christ, the world
greatest servant! Some nineteen
centuries have passed since that
| contrast of human ideals was given
| to the world, and the issue was not
| settled all at once, but step by step
and century by century, Caesar and
all he so conspicuously personified
arrogance tyranny, autocracy
and the glamor of worldly trap
pings, have become more and more
discountenanced and it is; Christ,
the servant, who today marks the
ideal for which men are ever in
creasing by striving to live. The
sovereignty which he holds out Is
the sovereignty of service. He
that would be great among you let
him be your servant: and he that
would be chief among you, let him
be your minister"
And such service is great, not In
the sense Of herOics, not necessarily
in anything conspicuous or spec
tacular. In fact the heroic virtues
are not essential for greatness, and
Edmund Burke does well to re-
mind us that any social system
which rests for its foundation on
the heroic virtues is bound to have
a super structure of profligacy
! and weakness. Neither extraordi-
nary intellectual gifts nor genius
are the essential components of
greatness. but a Willingness to
serve a willingness to do our plain
| everyday duty in life. That is the
secret of leadership such as that
of Washington. We cannot read
| the life of Washington without
| feeling that the dominant note VI
| his ambition was simply to serve
his God and his fellowmen. Whath-
er praised or criticised, aDpIauded
or even stoned, as he was in tire
streets of Philadelphia, he followed
the dictates of his conscience with
tenacity rarely if ever cquated IN
human history, and it Is ra'lcr le-
freshing in these DAYS with many
of the sorry conditions of modern
political life. to read those letters
of Thomas jefferson written to mis-
chief at the end of Washiugtons
first administration when he want
ed to retire to the privacy of Mount
Vernon, and note how jefferson
appeal for a reconsideration or
Washingtons determination is
based solely on the ground that
the claims of society upon him
were higher than any individual
predilection for happiness and
should restrain him to that choice
alone which would benefit man
kind" Here was character OF
whom there can be not the slight
est suspicion that he sought great
things for himself, but yet we know
to what heights of greatness his
true ambition to serve God and his
fellowmen carried him and so, in
a less heroic purpose, but no less
real sense it may be will all of us.
If greatness consisted merely III
a monopoly of honor, intellectual
prowess, or the exercise of COM
mand, it would be otherwise but
the world is not roomy enough for
a, great many Shakespeares or a
great many Napoleons, and the
space allotted to genius is soon
filled up. But there is no eX-
exhausting the sphere of true great
ness. Its opportunities are all
about us. They outnumber our
capacity for meeting them. HUI
manitv with it's manifold needs,
asks everyone of MS a helping hand
"A torn and bruised civilization
invites our contribution in its If
fort of restoration, men, women
children - Gods children - our
brothers-many of them in MEM
ory, yet noble in their misery-and
all deserving of the best service
that we can place AT their disposal.
The field for exercising the sover-
eighty of service is broad enough
for the entire human race-and Of
fers the greatest variety of effort
The motive is the important
thing in all our seeking and striv-
ing. Whatever our other limita-
tons of mind, temperament, en-
yironment, that for which We are
primarily responsible is our mo-
tive.
Darwinism, as Professor James
claims, may have "once for all dis
placed design from the minds of
the scientific but if so, it has
greatly strengthened the concep-
ton of purpose, and evolution be-
comes motion forward and up
ward, impelled by purpose, 1t is
motive that determines a mans
destiny. And the motive, which