Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1933-12-07

two ago, might have been the very
center around which a great educa-
tional institution was organized. To-
educational world, fortunate if out of
thousands he finds twenty students to
share his enthusiasms, to appreciate
his values. A leading university an
nounced not long ago that it proposed
to scrap all its courses in economics
of view. What of its scholars who
have devoted their lives to economic
science, and who are by no means
convinced that the last word has been
uttered in the reorganization of the
business world?
The tragedy lies in the prophet who
is without honor in a blind age. The
pity and pathos are found in the lives
wrecked by minor weaknesses which
might easily have been avoided.
How many men and women at twen-
ty-five show brilliant promise? They
are acclaimed by their friends, they
attain genuine popularity in their
special circle, their career is watched
with great interest. At forty they
have apparently made good. They
have achieved position and influence,
they bid fair to become leaders in
their chosen field. At fifty they have
barely held their own, the younger
generation is already elbowing them
aside, and in a few years more they
are forgotten, in a world that has
moved past them.
Sometimes it is merely that they
have reached the inevitable limits of
their orbit They had a certain degree
of ability, which carried them up to
a point beyond which they were in
capable of reaching. 1t was not their
fault it was merely their fate. Ener-
gy, or ambition, or capacity for fur
Their achievement simply did not exist.
More often, hidden weaknesses, OBJ
scured by the fervor and elan of youth
reveal themselves when the real test
comes. Perhaps their early success
has gone to their heads. They think
they have arrived. The earnest study,
the hard work, the careful planning
which brought them to this point are
abandoned, they rest on their achieve
ment, and presently discover that they
have lost their grip. Sometimes the
trouble is simply that faults which
may be overlooked in youth have per-
sisted and grown more pronounced
with the years, and will no longer be
koI>
lessness in speech or dress, dis
agreeable laugh, have become an in
superable handicap.
Perhaps the cOmmonest cause of ul-
innate failure in human experience is
an intolerant, self 'assertive egotism.
But the habit grows with age. When
man reaches the point where he
settles everything with few well
chosen sentences, when he will not
endure contradiction, when his sensi-
tive pride must be soothed by flattery
before his cooperation can be counted
on, the end is inevitable. Life is too
short to bother with a superheated
ego. People simply shrug their
shoulders, and the next time leave
the troublesome personality out OF
their calculations.
1t is we'll to remember that the goal
is never reached, that any success is
partial and temporary, that the race
is not run until the ultimate end is
achieved. The handful of names
which the world remembers are those
of men and women who never ceased
to grow, to strive, to reach beyond
their grasp; who counted not their
lives dear unto themselves; who strug-
gled, not for fame, or recognition, but
only for an end beyond themselves.
counting all things but loss for the
excellency of supreme purpose. 1t
is upon such lives that humanity is
built, of whom the world was not
worthy.