Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-10

| lectually, perhaps, but rather as regards
those gifts of the human spirit which
ennoble mankind. To give, or even TO
| promise TO give, is not a light thing
mere. words, but a deed, a fact which
one faces with another. The addition
Of one and one may result In decidedly
more than two, as every one knows.
despite the laws OF mathematics.
4
It will be realized that we have drawn
up here the perfect behavior of perfect
human beings in a perfect world. AS
long as all are imperfect, it will be un-
, derstood that only the exceptional man
or woman acts in the way outlined.
The old world wags along with most
| persons solemnly declaring, Now. If
there is anything can do for you, lust
let me know; and the moment the
statement is made. it is forgotten, both
by the speaker and the nearer.
The average person to whom such a
remark is made accepts it at its face
value. He as solemnly thanks the other
and as quickly forgets it. Suppose it is
the offer of the use of car for a spe-
cial occasion. When the hour arrives.
| he calls taxicab.
Yet occasionally one finds a person
who speaks our key sentence with
surety, with conviction, and, above all,
with intention. He is sure that he
means it, his tone carries conviction,
and he intends to put it into force.
He does not wait for the other 10 re-
mind him of his promise. Meaning
what he said, he keeps in mind what he
said. He makes it his duty to try to do
what he offered to do. He refuses, bv
an easy remark, to put the burden of
asking upon his friend
Repetition, he finds, is the solution of
problem which he means to solve
properly. Having made the offer, he
finds occasion to repeat it, at critical
times. Thus he shows the other that
he meant what he said.
But this is not all.
Restatements of the original offer are
but the second step. The third comes
when he actually performs the service
without waiting for the other to remind
him OF 1t, or forcing him to humiliate
himself by asking for it.
Since these are human matters, the
individual reactions of human beings
will modify these actions in various
ways. There are certain persons who
ask no more than an offer to prod the
donor into making it. Their Opposite
Is the person who Is shy to the point of
failing to ask for a favor which his
friend wants to render him,
IL is With these modest persons that
the affirmative step must be taken. The
happy thing is that the act fills them
with gratitude. Their eyes at last
have seen a human being who means
what he says.
They not only have the happiness
which comes with the acceptance of a
| gift without strings, as the saying is,
but they are pleased with a sense of
Importance which does not often come
to. men and women of their type of
mind.
They realize that their other good
friends, one and all, offered what they
offered out of politeness. This one, and
this one alone, did what he did because
he wanted to do it, because he wanted
to help them.
Now there are few Citations which
come to a human being greater than
the feeling that he Is a person of some
importance in the world. Thus he or
she who offers help, and then insists
on giving it without being reminded oil
the offer, achieves two things at once,
He does what he says he will do, keen;
his word, bat more, even, than that, he
helps by his deed to give fellow HUI
man being a sense Of self Importance
When one takes into consideration the
! vast amount of downtrodding which
has gone on since human tribes came
into existence, 1t will be realized that
he who gives fellow human being a
decent and honest sense Of self-iff1por-
lance has given him a supergift.