The Coconino sun., 1921-02-25
Additi0naL Local News
THE SPIRIT NEEDED TO
 MAKE FLAGSTAFF GROW


 The following editorial from the
 Bremen (lndiana) Enquirer, on com
 munity building applies so thorough
 ly to conditions here that we have changed the name Bremen" to Flag
 staff. It points out what could be
 done here and what is not done here
 just as clearly as if the writer had
 made a personal survey of the cityx
 Much of the so-called education of
 the average man is like that of the
 fellow who crams for an examination only to find that he has been filling his head with lot of Knowledge" that is not required by the examina- tion itself.
 | No really educated person under estimates the value of cultural study; | and nobody ought to allow so-called practical education to supplant the kind of education that fits a person for association with his fellows and enables him to do something for them at the same time that he does some thing for himself
 Education may as well fit one to be kind of helpful neighbor at the same time that it fits one to achieve such success in the practical affairs of life as not to be subject for the charity of ones neighbors.
 Most of us are so eager in our pursuit of prosperity, or at any rate in the pursuit of gain, that we lay our plans as if we think we can afford to postpone all thought of the art of living until we have accumulated enough of this worlds goods to en- able us to live without thought of | gain. But unfortunately for those of | us who make this our aim, we discov- CT the art of living to be more difficult | to master than is the art of accumu- latlng a fortune in material things. More than that, the art of living is not one that can be learned at late period of life.
 The person who has not during youth or middle age arrived at an appreciation of the magnitude of other fields than that in which the activities of his own vocation are exercised has missed a large part of life, and it is a part of life that he can not recover m later years, no matter how much wealth and leisure he may have at his disposal.
 It would of course be folly to neg feet or ignore ones duty to be self supporting to the end of his days; but 1t would be hardly less folly to delude oneself with the belief that all the pleasures of life can be reserved for enjoyment during the last years. The wiser of humanity knows that he gets most out of life who lives it as he goes along.
 It matters not what ones business pr profession may be; if he confines his activities to it's channels he is likely to lose contact with the world outside of his chosen field. For this reason we have physicians and who can think and talk only - m terms of the pill and the scalpei, IS well as farmers whose horizons are bounded by their own acres. The most civilizing and cultivating in- 1uences available to man is contact md intercourse with his fellows.
 Community building exerts a hu- { nanizing influence upon all who en- gage in it, and if no direct material benefits whatever resulted from activ- ties in behalf of the public welfare ! he intellectual, spiritual and social benefits derived from them would prove to be adequate compensation; I hough perhaps benefits of that | haracter are not so readily recog- lized or appraised.
 When it is proposed to engage in community building the citizen should | lot assume either that it is for his 5 eltish profit or as a charitable move | nent in behalf of someone else. The ' forts he makes and the lessons he d earns in the ant of working with his ellow men in pursuit of common | enefits will in themselves afford Z 'reater compensation than would the anne efforts made in the pursuit of is own profession. Q The growth of the spirit of cooper | tion appears to be the most striking | eature of the time; and though some Q f the cooperative organizations bear ! he ear marks of selfishness, most of Y hem, having acquired wisdom by xperience, have come to realize that 2 here are many ways of achieving |, esirable purposes without the appli- ' ation of coercion. Force usually is net with force, and it is commonly Q asier to bring about desired results T y peaceful means, if the result is ; 'orthy, than it is to bring it about by z orce even when overwhelming force :. available. U The biggest obstacle to every kind c progress is ignorance or msunder- D landing; and what is needed is ? lerely to bring about knowledge or II II fn Iir. nf ln .l. Cl