Evening star., 1923-12-31
The Delusion Of
Love
BY DIR. FRANK CRANE.

| One of those maxims that contain
most meaty kernel Of truth Is that
whatever is safe is bad.
AS far back as the days Of Jesus
the Seer looked on the leading citizen,
who had fat barns. and who lay back
and said: "Soul, take thine ease, thou
hast much goods laid up for days"
and the Seer's eyes pierced the rot
! ten core of security, and the Seer's
voice said, Thou fool! This night,
| shall thy soul be required of thee.
Then. whose shall all those things be
thou hast laid up?"
1t is bad for anybody to be safe;
bad for, q boy to be placed above
want; bad for any human being to
be endowed.
When any one feels that his call
| ing and election are sure" the ethical,
the character results on him are
harmful, it Is apt to make him
prig, PhaEisee or a prosecutor. A
tainty.
From uncertainty flow charity and
sympathy and becoming humility. 1t
is the army of the .cock-sure that
has ravaged the church.
Security has always been the argu-
ment Of tNants. privileged classes
and the advocates of laissez-faire.
We are told that slavery Is quieter
than negro freedom ESQ the Greeks
had their asphalos duleuein), educa-
tfon is dangerous, religious absolu-
tism and authority alone bring peace.
The fact is. risk is life, ahd life
is risk. Get where yon are absolute
iy safe and you would as we'll be
dead. Life Is great game; eliminate
chance and you spoil the game; you
become a useless lump.
We sometimes say, "It Is the uncer-
tainty that Is killing me. If I only
knew l could keep my job, or that
my boy would not go wrong, or that
my business venture would prosper!'
And we actually feel aggrieved, as
We were somehow wronged because
we do not know. {.
But surety is no part of the scheme
of life. We are not put here to oper-
ate like machines, but to take
chances.
| The art of success is not to sue
coed surely every time, but to have
always something else up your
sleeve; to fall. but to fail on your
feet; to reckon always on missing
| and to be ready to strike again.
This is what is called resourceful-
| ness. which simply means knowing
| how to fail successfully.
| The nation itself is not to be Sc
! cure and stable; 1t is to be fluid and
progressive. In absolutely fixed insti-
tutions is contained fixed fraud. The
other side of governmental perma-
! nency is sruelty and oppression of the
| people.
The secure state. the unchanging
creed. the established religion, the
hereditary throne, the independently
| wealthy individual. the man with a
| Unemployment, the life-occupant of
any institution, whether poorhouse,
prison, college, church or court, are
chrysalids; only when the shell is
broken and they fly forth to danger
are there life and beauty and motion
and joy.
So the next time you are disposed
to complain of the uncertainty of
things remember that uncertainty IS
an essential in the universe, ordained
to make you play the man.
Birth means that the mother shall
go down to the. gates of death; mar
riage means styling between danger
Gus rocks; love is as full of danger
as battle; health runs an eternal
gantlet between diseases; faith is
q ceaseless fight with doubts; busi-
ness is crowded with possibilities of
failure; money is skittish as a colt
and death comes no man knows
when or where.
You could not be safe if you
| wanted to, but you can be what is
! infinitely better, you can be brave,
and if you are brave you can be
happy