Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-01-12
By DR.. Frank Crane
~ NE of those maXims that contains a
} most meaty kernel of truth is that
~ whatever is safe is bad

I 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 many days" and the seers eyes
pierced the rotten 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
boy to be placed above want; bad for any
human being to be endowed.
When anyone feels that his calling and
election are sure" the ethical, the character
results on him are harmful; it is apt to
make him prg, a Pharisee or a prosecutor.
A souls most moral state is uncertainty.
From uncertainty flow charity and SYM
pathy and becoming humility. 1t is the ar
my of the cock-sure that has rayaged the
Church.
Security has always been the argument
of tyrants, privileged classes and the adVo-
Gates of Iaissez-faire. We are told that sIa-
very is Quieter than negro freedom $50 the
Greeks had their aSphalOs duleuein), educa-
ton is dangerous, religious absolutism and
authority alone bring peace
The fact is, risk is life, and life is risk.
:
would well be dead. Life is great
game; eliminate chance and you spoil the
game; you become useless lump.
We sometimes say, 1T is the uncertainty
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
prospect" And we ACTUALLY feel aggrieyed,
as though life owed us certainty, and 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 operate like
machines but to take chances
The art of success is not to succeed sure
ly every time, but to have always something
else up your sleeve; to fall but to fall on
your feet; to reckon always on missing and
to be ready to strike again.
This is what is called TeSOurcefulness,
which simply means knowing how to fail sue
cessfully.
The nation itself is not, to be secure and
stable; it is to be fluid and progressive.
In absolutely fixed institutions is contain
ed fixed fraud. The other side of govern
mental permanency is cruelty and oppres-
sion of the people.
The secure state, the unchanging creed,
the established religion, the hereditary
throne, the independently wealthy individual,
the man with a life employment, the life
occupant of any institution, whether poor
house, prison, college, church or court, are
chrysalids; only when the shell is broken
and they flow forth to danger are there life
and beauty and motion and joy.
So the next time you disposed to
complain Of the uncertainty of things, re
member that uncertainty is an essential ele-
ment in the universe ordained to make you
play the man.
Birth means that the mother shall go
down to the gates of death; marriage means
sailing between dangerous rocks; love is as
full Of danger as battle; health runs an eter-
nal gauntlet between diseases; faith is a
ceaseless fight with doubts; business 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
Copyright, 1920